Fox's Grimoire
by Hector Enix
Summary: Lysylta Deth is the reincarnated form of Naruto Uzumaki and the Kyuubi no Kitsune; she was trained as a mage, and after being accepted into the Deth Pack, she returned to the Elemental countries. Werefox Main Character, Yuri. Read Wolf's Tome before this
1. The Fox and the Leaf

Back from the grave to join the rave, my most Freaky of Darlings!

Fox's Grimoire was supposed to be a firm piece of the seven stories I had intended to do in which Naruto's life was somehow influenced by one of the original Seven characters from a long-running D&D campaign of mine. All seven managed to rise above the ranks of Godhood, and after countless millennia you'd be amazed what they'll do to entertain themselves.

In Wolf's Tome, we saw Naruto forced to swim through the River Styx, thereby forcing a reincarnation through sheer willpower and proving himself worthy of training under the King of Werewolves, god of Magic, and head of the Deth Pack, Tyro Deth. Of course, Reincarnation is a tricky thing; Naruto is now Lysylta Deth, the combination of the Kyuubi and the plucky child, not to mention she's a damn good looker on top of that.

Having completed fifty years of training under the Lord of the Arcane, Lysylta has been sent back to the Elemental Countries to satisfy the deal that Sarutobi made with said werewolf-king.

Though it's an earlier piece, I ask that you go and read Wolf's Tome before this; it will explain a few things that I may well glaze over here.

It is here that the first page of the Fox's Grimoire is written. It is here that the story begins.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Dungeons and Dragons, nor am I profiting from the writing of this story. The Deth Pack, Tyro Deth, and Lysylta Deth are mine however.

* * *

"I'm sorry, could you run that by me one more time?" Tsunade asked, teetering on a line between amazed and irritated.

"He is not lying, Tsunade." Sarutobi said with a sigh, the smoke from his neglected pipe snaking its way towards the ceiling. He watched it for a moment, letting his gaze drift back down as it pooled on the barrier above. "I did make a deal some time ago to ensure Naruto would survive, though… from what you've told us he hasn't."

"The deal was to give "him" the power defend "himself"." Tyro replied lazily, using air quotes while he shifted in his seat; his human form was terribly cramped when compared to his other states. The fact that all of his magic was trying to fit into the chair with him wasn't helping. "Lysylta is Naruto, freed from the chains of that life. She has retained her memories of that time however."

"Stera anyon bachiemyi drhueramychedri?" Lysylta asked, trying to restrain her anger; Tyro had decided, most likely just for the sake of his own amusement, not to teach her Japanese. Her plea for a translation was met with a chuckle as Tyro shook his head.

"What did she say?" Tsunade asked calmly, giving Lysylta another stealthy once-over as her attention was drawn back to the woman. Her outfit was definitely unique, even in the ninja world: it consisted of a silken vest-and-undershirt cut to show her midriff, though it looked like the undershirt lacked sleeves; form-fitting black pants with a number of seemingly needless belts around her left thigh; an oddly-shaped purple trenchcoat that was about four inches short of dragging the floor, with one sleeve missing, the other too long, a red inner lining, and what looked to be a collar that could be popped up quite high; all topped off with a purple witch hat that was humorously large. She wore no shoes, showing off the flawlessly pointed toenails the woman had, drawing a parallel to Lysylta's fingernails. She was sure to turn some heads, if for her color scheme alone; her plentiful chest and athletically hour-glassed figure were somehow the second thing you would notice, if only because of the aforementioned hat and colors.

Even Lysylta's tail and ears might be overlooked as part of her eccentric clothing, though her eyes were far too piercing to be anything but real.

"She asked for a translation; I didn't teach her Japanese." Tyro remarked off-handedly, shifting again; power aside, the chairs weren't all that comfortable to begin with. "For the sake of not running the joke into the ground I've already left a primer for her at the Namikaze Mansion, which is where she'll be staying."

"You sound very sure of that." Tsunade replied, folding her hands on the desk; this man had been trying her patience since he arrived, the conversation only progressing due to Sarutobi's influence as her personal advisor. "You made the deal with Sarutobi however; I'm under no obligation to honor the contract or to show you what respect Sarutobi believes you to deserve. As it stands, you've done nothing more than show yourself as arrogant and potentially insane; I can't just let someone join Konoha as a ninja based on the word of someone I've never heard of."

"A fair enough belief." Tyro stood up, banishing the chair with a wave of his hand and summoning a new one from his castle with the latter half of the motion. He continued as he sat down, impressed that Tsunade was keeping a straight face. "However, if you do not want to accept her on the grounds of the agreement—which indeed does not bind you to action—than you may wish to accept her for the more practical reasons."

"Such as?"

"Power. Such is the ultimate goal of humans—even the most humble of men will ask for the power to control their own little worlds if not themselves. I've trained Lysylta for half a century; what she lacks in experience she compensates for in raw destructive power. She's more durable than a human could ever hope to be, stronger and faster as well on top of simply being able to live far beyond the normal life-span for a human; her appearance is misleading in more ways than one."

"Konoha is the strongest of the ninja villages; we don't need power when we hardly know what will come of it." Tsunade argued, her interest piqued.

"I'll make this next part very clear then: Lysylta would legitimately like to live here and experience her birth-plane. If, for some reason, she ever turns on Konoha it will be by the village's hand that she acts, not by her own whim. Taking her into the ninja ranks is a liability; after all, she can infect others with lycanthropy and could thus build an army to take over Konoha or simply level it."

"So what are you hinting at?" Tsunade asked, seeing the spark in the man's eye; he had gone on that self-damning tangent for a reason.

"I believe his name is Danzo; you hardly need lycanthropy when you can just brainwash your subordinates." Tyro remarked, pulling a book out of his robes and setting it on the desk. "Inside you'll find some very detailed information regarding Danzo and his little "Root" operation; It'd be adorable if not for how pathetic the attempt is in the grand scheme of things."

"You like wrapping people up in bargains, don't you? We get the information and Lysylta becomes a kunoichi."

"Deals are something a friend of mine is nigh obsessed with; I prefer to think of myself as an opportunist. I could just mind-crush you into accepting Lysylta without anything offered on my end, but that hardly seems sporting, now does it?"

"Not in particular. How do I know the information is good, though?" Tsunade asked, eyeing the book.

"I have nothing to gain by lying, and if anything helping you get rid of the cancerous little root on your tree will help my daughter in the long run."

Tsunade observed the book for a moment before sliding it towards her and opening it to a random page. There was silence as she read, taking in the information.

"I see. That would explain a few things, but this isn't the only explanation for the missing shipments." Tsunade remarked. "I still intend to look into this, however. I suppose I've worked myself into a corner now though."

"You have, though it was done with the best interests of your home in mind." Tyro replied, clapping sarcastically with a bemused grin on his face. "I have to admit, I expected more of a fight from you."

"I can read her; I don't think she'll be any trouble, misunderstandings aside." Tsunade remarked casually, leveling her gaze with Tyro's glowing eyes. "You, however, are much harder to read. One minute I know you're a second away from murder, the next I'm equally sure that you're perfectly calm and peaceful; If two dangerous books are sitting on my desk and I have to read one, I fully intend to pick the one I understand and send the other away."

"A wiser statement than you realize." Tyro chuckled, teeth gleaming in the light of the afternoon sun. "With that said though, I'll mention this while I'm not contemplating leveling this tower: There are a few provisions to Lysylta's stay here."

"Starting with the Namikaze Mansion I take it?"

"It's not in use right now and it's got the space required for the other requirements; namely it's isolated enough that any magical-mishaps or angry villagers won't be much of an issue and it's got room for a study and a laboratory. On top of that, in lieu with the Deth Tradition of the King's Right, or in this case the Queen's Right, Lysylta is allowed to have multiple partners; she will also take the position of being Konoha's resident witch and will thusly deal with any magical needs or questions until such a time that she could name a successor."

"Wait, what?"

"It's remarkably old-fashioned, I know, but having a resident witch is a time-honored tradition in my land and with the lack of magic in this world I'd almost consider it a necessity here."

"No, the part right before that regarding polygamy if I heard you properly." Tsunade asked, slightly confused; she'd have been a little more on edge if Lysylta had been male, as Polygamy and thusly impregnating several women at once would produce the threat of a growing lycanthrope population—a thought that she took in stride despite only learning of the species' existence outside of fairytales an hour or so before. As it stood though unless Lysylta worked amazingly differently than human females, reproductively speaking, it seemed odd to have her with multiple husbands just out of tradition.

"Ah, yes, that's usually where people hit a snag." Tyro spared a glance at Lysylta, who seemed to be judging the conversation based on tone of voice alone; she at least had the gist of what was going on, though it was unlikely she knew what the subject was specifically. "In the Deth Pack, which is the largest werewolf pack in Evanon, there is a rank obtained by only a few in which I've deemed the person's heart and genetics strong enough to be passed to a larger number of children. With the rank comes the right to have more than a single partner; Lysylta is the exception, as she is the only Werefox in the pack. Through a technicality, she and I have the same technical rank despite the power gap and the fact that I lead both werewolves and the Deth Pack as a whole; she is the highest ranked werefox by default and thus bears the titles of Denmother and Skulk Queen, as well as the right to multiple partners."

"And put simply?"

"She's the only werefox, so she's automatically got the highest title and the perks; that won't change if she passes the gift on to people in Konoha, as they will have to pay homage to her as their matron even though she must respectively acknowledge me."

"Why multiple husbands though? A harem has the benefit—and I use the word lightly—of spreading desirable genes to multiple children; Lysylta would had a reversed harem, which sound more like a guessing game of whose kid it is."

"Wives. Lysylta has no interest in men to the best of my understanding."

"Why even pass on the privilege then if kids aren't a possibility?"

"Because there is a magical solution for any problem. Rather than leave your mind to wander, yes, there are a menagerie of ways for Lysylta to impregnate women with her own genetic material, thus passing it on to the next generation and otherwise making the multiple partners viable."

"Charming. Is there a particular reason I should be okay with this?"

"It's not something that will change based on your feelings; I doubt that children will be Tsukiko's primary focus for quite some time regardless. If that is not enough , the right has limits and rules to it; there are more lines of fine print and subtle nuances here than in most of the Deth Pack's laws combined."

Tsunade sighed, looking at the book of information and then up at Lysylta who met her gaze, amethyst eyes catching the light in an exotic way as her pupils narrowed and dilated as clouds blocked the sun.

"And your thoughts, Sarutobi?"

"The benefits look to outweigh the disadvantages. Tactically speaking, the provisions are minor and worth the potential gains in theory." Sarutobi replied, smoke dancing out on his words. "Though personally I'm still lamenting my Grandson's death."

"Lysylta has a good heart; the same heart Naruto had." Tyro remarked, standing a moment later with an air of finality about him as he dismissed the chair. "Dregoi stehui, tyeonknidrihu."

Lysylta smiled broadly and left her chair to kneel before the ebon-haired man. Tsunade and Sarutobi watched the exchange with raised brows, not understanding whatever language they spoke in as they said their farewells.

"I've taken the liberty of transporting more than just the primer to the mansion. Tsukiko knows how to set up her lab and study; I suggest you give her a day or two the read the primer before testing her." Tyro instructed, snapping his fingers and causing a portal to tear open a few feet from the desk before striding through the rippling maw. As it closed Lysylta stood, turning to face the two of them and not even trying to hide her amused grin at Tsunade's hanging jaw.

"Believe me about the magic now?" Sarutobi asked, putting more tobacco in his pipe and shaking his head.

**-¤҈¤-**

Lysylta sighed as the door shut behind Tsunade, looking around the entrance to the Namikaze mansion in silent solitude. The language barrier was annoying enough without the culture gap coming into play.

The mansion itself had an odd look to it, though Lysylta found herself liking the exotic nature of the design as she walked further into the abandoned home. A smile trickled onto her lips as she saw the magic chests sitting in the huge living room, a thick book sitting atop the largest of them.

The whole building echoed with the sound of her claws tapping the wood with each step, a testament to the utter emptiness of the house. Old pages, bound and protected by layers of magic, rustled happily at the prospect of being read again; runes flared to life under her gaze, transferring knowledge to Lysylta faster than more traditional methods would have done for even a dedicated student.

"Hello." She slowly mouthed, building up in volume until she was satisfied with the sound; a flick of her wrist saw the chests brought to life, dancing on the strings of an unseen puppeteer as they spilled their contents about the house as Lysylta instructed. As decorations hung themselves and her lab was outfitted with alchemy equipment Lysylta let her focus lie solely on learning Japanese; it had an odd set of grammatical rules compared to Draconic.

One of her favorite chairs from Tyro's castle had been packed, making her spare a moment to be grateful to her father for including it in her little care package. Lysylta let herself sink into the chair as it passed by, enjoying the ride as it took her to the room she had claimed as a study, situating itself in front of a large stone desk that had been another part of her care package.

"Hello, my name is Lysylta Deth." She slowly recited, looking up as more furniture and supplies glided in on streams of her magic. It was a spell she had learned long ago, though one that had proved useful over the years for various chores that she had no desire to do herself.

Her evening was uneventful; she studied the primer until the sun was firmly below the horizon and well after all her furniture had settled in. She set the book down when she felt the first tug, drawing a smile unto her lips as she stood and walked from the room.

At least the Moon was the same.

* * *

I really don't like that last part, but I couldn't think of a better was to end this chapter; I didn't want her going bitchmode like in the older version, but I don't like how odd the move-in sounds. Upside is that I'm jumping to finish chapter 2 now, so hopefully the action there will make up for a first chapter made of discussion and oddly explained magic.

Poof!

Good Evening, my freaky darlings.


	2. The Fox and the Test

Welcome back, my most freaky of Darlings!

_**If you haven't read the new chapter 1, go do so immediately**_. I've changed it, so this chapter might not make a great deal of sense without it. Actually, I mostly kept it the same; just replace Lysylta getting mad as Tsunade with Lysylta silently moving into the Namikaze mansion with Random Magic while reading a primer on Japanese and you'll be fine.

With that in mind, here's the second chapter of Fox's Grimoire. Some of you have been waiting for this for a long time.

* * *

"So what exactly does this test entail?" Lysylta asked as she bounded along the rooftops with her silver-haired guide; the man had been considerably late and had offered the most half-assed excuse she had ever heard.

"Oh just the basics; It'll just be a combat ability test and a psychological exam afterwards." Kakashi replied, silently gauging the woman as they ran; someone with no ninja training being able to keep up with him was slightly unsettling. The amount of balance and control required to leap from building to building wasn't something that you were just born with; not when you can keep up with a Jounin right out of the starting gate. The fact that he could feel her chakra making the air hum around her wasn't helping to ease his nerves; Kakashi was just glad that they were doing this because she wanted to be an ally.

"Charming." Lysylta let her mind wander over a spell theory that she had been working on; unfortunately the act of turning fire to ice was keeping her from finishing her formulas. The plan was to use a blast of fire to launch an enemy or two into the air, at which point the fire on the ground turns to spikes of ice.

"You speak Japanese very fluently; I was told to expect some language barriers but so far there haven't been any issues." Kakashi commented, noting that the humming increased whenever she spoke. It seemed her words had power, even if she was saying mundane things.

"You'd be amazed what you can do with a bit of magic and free time." Lysylta replied, wondering if the man knew how obvious he was being in his analysis. She was glad that Tyro had at least given her a book on the history of the Elemental countries and a shorter volume regarding the ninja villages; it let her expect some of the things that had been thus far happening, like having most of the ninja around her trying to silently gauge her.

Lysylta adjusted her hat as they jumped, making Kakashi wonder how the huge purple hat was staying on her head at all with all the wind buffeting them. He had seen a great deal of "eccentric" clothing after all the years he had been a ninja, but this was borderline ridiculous; the art of Kunoichi using their bodies and revealing clothes to distract enemies was still a common practice, but the revealing clothes were always practical in some way. Without the hat and the trenchcoat she might have been alright, but the amount of material in those two pieces alone made him question how effective she would be in battle; all you'd have to do is pull the hat down and she'd be blind for a moment, which is all some opponents would need.

The fake ears on the hat and the tail accessory that she had on her belt were just odd, but Kakashi supposed that he'd seen weirder.

"How much longer until we reach the training area?" Lysylta asked, already preparing her Metamagic; Enlarge, Maximise, Extend, Quicken, and a number of others that Tyro had taught her. Metamagic was actually the reason her left sleeve was overly long: Her whole arm was covered in tattoos and arcane runes that allowed her to maintain Metamagic in place of only using it a spell at a time. The various sections glowed based on the magic though, and the sleeve blocked the light to keep opponents guessing.

"A minute or so; I have to say, you're keeping pace very well for someone with no training."

"I have no ninja training; do not assume that means I have gone fifty years without learning anything."

"Fifty?"

"And I will still be this beautiful when you grandsons are old men." Lysylta smiled, showing her fangs and letting her amethyst eyes shine with magic for a moment before turning her attention forward again like it had never happened.

"Right, well here we are anyway." Kakashi replied as the training ground came into view; it was the field that his team had reserved most days. Tsunade was already waiting with the handful of ninja that were there to help administer the test; each was a master in their respective fields of Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, as well as several generalists.

A good portion of the shinobi council was also present, silently waiting and watching. No doubt they wanted to scope out the newest addition to the ninja force and gauge her for themselves. A couple members of the civilian half of the council were present as well, most likely there out of curiosity more than anything else.

"Good to see you made it here without blowing anything up. Sarutobi seems to have it in his head that you're potentially unstable." Tsunade greeted, eyeing Lysylta as a wicked smile flashed across her lips.

"Instability makes it seem like I wouldn't put any planning or effort into the endeavor." Lysylta replied, eyes flashing with primal power; the Deth Lycanthropy was a balancing act that few could master, ultimately erasing the line between mortal and beast. Lysylta had been one of the few that took to her beast form with little issue, though she still struggled now and then with keeping herself in line.

"I see you've learned Japanese." Tsunade changed the topic, "Though apparently not well enough to have shown up on time."

"That fault lies on this one's shoulders." Lysylta replied, jerking a thumb at Kakashi. The scarecrow looked up from his book for a moment, looking as though the accusation was a complete shock.

"What, me?"

"I see; You'll have to pardon my accusation then. Kakashi is notorious for being late, though I wasn't aware he was the one assigned to get you."

"I'm sure it won't be the last time something like this happens." Lysylta replied, reeling in her beast and adjusting her hat. "Now then, would someone be so kind as to tell me _specifically_ what is about to happen? I'm tired of being given generalizations."

"You're very impatient; not a good trait to have as a ninja." A man commented as he walked over to stand beside Tsunade; he looked to be missing an arm and an eye.

"You smell terrible." Lysylta replied nonchalantly, waving him off as she kept her attention on Tsunade; the woman seemed interested in what would come of the little interaction Danzo and Lysylta.

"I take it you think I'm some scarred old man, interested in doing nothing but ranting about the folly of youth."

"No, I said I think you smell terrible. You must be very insecure if you came up with all of that from one comment."

Tsunade and Sarutobi shared a look, gauging Danzo's reactions as the man considered his response; it was too soon to do anything about him, but if he slipped up then action would overrule caution.

"I see, you'll have to forgive me then; as one of the higher ranking members of the ninja council my character is often under attack from simple comments." Danzo replied, offering that introduction as a subtle warning.

"Perhaps if you took care to not smell of treachery people would have as much to insult." Lysylta replied, voice suddenly becoming cold steel. "I suggest you stay away from me, old man; where I come from we cull old wolves who spend their days scheming."

"That sounded like a threat." Danzo replied calmly, slightly unnerved that she had gone from insulting how he smelled to implying he was a traitor.

"Threat implies I'd be _attempting_ something." Lysylta remarked, eyeing the two black-clad men in the tree nearby. They wore blank masks and reeked of the same treachery as this old fool. "I've been told that murdering old men based on scent isn't a friendly gesture in human society though."

"So what sort of place do you come from then?"

"I think that's enough from both of you." Tsunade interjected, voice firm and leveling enough killing intent to stop Lysylta's retort. "Danzo, stop provoking people; If she gets pissed off and tries to kill you, I don't particularly think anyone is going to intervene."

"I'll keep that in mind." Danzo replied, seemingly unfazed by it all. Internally he was sweating bullets; the look in Lysylta's eye made him very sure of the fact that no law or threat would stop her from killing him if she chose to try. Laws and subtle threats were often what kept him safe and out of reach; armor that amounted to tissue paper before Lysylta's gaze.

"And you should check the facts before you start something like that with a member of the shinobi council; the ruling body, under me, for the program you're trying to enter." Tsunade chastised, getting a shrug from Lysylta. In truth she was almost hoping for the girl to lash out and kill Danzo if only because of the information in the book Tyro had left, but it was still only a theory with no solid evidence outside of the book.

"Fine, fine, but if he stabs you in the back then I'm going to point and laugh at all of you." Lysylta chuckled, adjusting her hat again. Tsunade wasn't someone she wanted to fight; even after fifty years of training under the Arcane Wolf himself, Lysylta knew that there would be those in this world who could outclass her. Tsunade was on that list, Danzo was not.

"Good girl. Now, how about we vent some of those aggressive tendencies into something half-way productive?" It was less of a question and more of a command as Tsunade jerked her thumb over her shoulder and towards the battlefield. "We're going to test you against three opponents, then send you over to the hospital for a full physical and a mental exam. Each opponent will be using one of the main offenses for being a ninja: Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu. While fighting these opponents, you can only use whatever techniques you have that match the opponent; do you understand what that means?"

"No throwing lighting around if they're using Illusions?"

"Exactly."

"We're going to have an issue then, as I do not use illusions; they're the art of a coward." Lysylta replied, catching some noise of indignation coming from a jounin behind her. "What am I allowed to use in that match?"

"Not even basic illusions?"

"No; I chose to focus on learning War Magic."

"Alright, We're going to alter the genjutsu section then; instead of fighting, you just have to locate Kurenai. Your senses will be altered and useless unless you can break her genjutsu, so this should at least be a decent test of how well you can defend against genjutsu."

"Very Well."

"Before you go, I just want to go on record as saying something," Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose, shaking her head, "You've been nothing but confusing and difficult since you showed up."

"Alpha's original plan involved animating that big ass mountain back there, getting it to play an amazing guitar solo, and then jumping out of your great stone cleavage."

"Charmin-….wait, you're serious aren't you?"

Lysylta's response was to smile and walk out to the field, wondering who she was going to have to fight first. The other tests were hardly spared any thought; the physical sounded like it was going to odd and the mental exam was likely going to claim she had delusional fantasies and/or schizophrenia.

She was half surprised to see Kakashi walk out and stand opposite to her, giving a little half-wave.

"Yo."

"Him? Seriously? Which is he supposed to be?" Lysylta asked, keeping an eye on Kakashi; he was a jounin, meaning that his lazy demeanor bellied great strength.

"Kakashi will be testing your ninjutsu skills; a common rumor is that he's mastered over a thousand jutsu. I suggest you take this seriously." Tsunade warned, though it wasn't entirely clear who she was aiming that last part at.

"Oh come on, you make it sound so serious. Why don't we just have a little fun?" Kakashi asked, giving an eye smile as he turned the page of his book.

"I like you; I'll try to make sure not to kill you." Lysylta smiled, already bringing magic to her hands.

"No killing." Tsunade warned, leveling a glare at Lysylta. "Start when ready."

Lysylta's response was to raise her arm and let loose a bolt of lightning that arced across the gap faster than most could follow.

"Very nice; not a lot of people can move that fast." Lysylta praised as Kakashi put his half-burnt book away with a sigh.

"That was my favorite volume too." Kakashi lamented, closing his pouch and taking a much more fitting pose for a ninja of his caliber, "And you now have my full attention."

The next bolt of lightning stuck nothing but air as Kakashi dodged and launched a fireball at Lysylta, making the Lycan flip out of the way.

Something grabbed her ankle as she touched down though, pulling her under; out of reflex she used a type of racial teleportation inherent in most Greater Fae, ending up about twenty feet away and already charging up her next spell. These ninja were much faster than she thought, though their "jutsu" could be a lot more potent.

This lightning was different; it streaked off like a snake, actually chasing Kakashi as he dodged. Lysylta had opted to continually fire bolts of lightning at him while he dodged the snake; neither seemed to be fooled by clones or thrown off by Kawarimi, much to his chagrin.

"You're going to run out of chakra at this pace you know." Kakashi shouted as he swapped places with a leaf and immediately let loose another jutsu; a wind jutsu aimed at Lysylta's feet with the intention of knocking her off balance or at least forcing her to dodge.

He was a little embarrassed to be pulling out his Sharingan, but it was necessary if he planned to do more than just dodge. The world slowed slightly and he found himself stunned by what he was seeing.

Viewing a jutsu with an active Sharingan provided a few things depending on what part you looked at: by watching the user of the jutsu the hand seals and shaping of the chakra would be seen—which is where the ability to copy jutsu came from— and by watching the jutsu itself one could see how powerful it would be on top of how it interacted with the world.

The latter was going as expected; Kakashi could now see where the serpentine lightning would travel as well as the sheer might of the attack—if this was "not killing" then he would hate to be on the end of something "lethal". As she dodged the wind and threw another bolt of lightning however, Kakashi saw no shaping of chakra, no minute handsigns, and no real change in anything about her. The arcing bolt was real, and he would have seen through the genjutsu if she had merely been using a clone to shoot out illusions.

It looked like this was that magic she was talking about.

"I didn't think Kakashi would have to pull out the Sharingan for this." Sarutobi muttered, watching the combat with a practiced eye. He too noticed that Lysylta's attacks used no chakra or handsigns; even with the displays of Tyro's magic, he had held certain reservations about it.

"What are you mumbling about old man?" Tsunade asked, not taking her eyes off the fight. As annoying as she was, Lysylta's skill was becoming readily apparent; being able to throw out that much lightning like candy at a parade was no small feat. On top of that it was likely only Kakashi's Sharingan and years of experience that were keeping him from getting hit.

"Just wondering how long it took her to learn all this." Sarutobi replied, raising an eyebrow as a blast of thunder deflected a fireball from Kakashi; or at least Sarutobi was decently sure it was thunder, given the massive blast of sound that assaulted them. "Looks like she's got the entire storm at her command."

As if she had heard that statement Lysylta chose that moment to switch from lightning to fire, chucking tiny motes of flame that exploded in great fiery novae upon impacting something.

"Alright, that's enough!" Tsunade shouted, seeing Lysylta stand still as though she was preparing something much larger. She watched the Lycan debate on whether or not to acknowledge her shout, eventually waving her hand and dismissing the serpent of lightning. Kakashi loosed a sigh of relief as the assault stopped, putting away his Sharingan and checking his clothing; more than a few places had singed holes in them.

"Remind me never to piss you off." Kakashi smiled, walking over to Lysylta while Tsunade and the council convened for a moment to discuss Lysylta's performance.

"It's generally a good idea to never piss off a witch." Lysylta replied, adjusting her hat, frowning slightly. "Is that it? I thought this would last a lot longer; it feels like I hardly gave them anything to consider."

"You could keep that up?"

"For hours on end; part of my training was to make sure I could use magic consistently over long periods of time in case I ever found myself in a prolonged battle." Lysylta replied, taking off her hat for a moment to smooth and adjust her hair.

"Ah… Oh, those are actually… oh." Kakashi stammered, realizing that Lysylta's ears were actually attached and not part of her hat. "Is the tail real too?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Lysylta asked, giving him a severely confused look. As if to prove her point she swished it around a bit while donning her hat. "I keep forgetting that there's nothing but humans here."

"And… there aren't where you come from?"

"There are humans, it's just that they're not the only race. Elves, the Fae, Dwarves, Orcs, Dragonborn, The Lycans and Vampires; the list goes on. Of course, I think that led to a lot more war on Evanon; the air here is much lighter than it is there. Much less violence and death here, if I had to guess."

"Remind me not to go there then." Kakashi slowly remarked, trying for a joke and realizing about half way through that it was just an insane concept. "That aside, I wouldn't say there was a winner or loser for that little spar, but thank you for reminding me to take opponents more seriously; it's been a while since someone's caught me off guard."

"You're welcome. I like you, you've got your head on straight." Lysylta replied, smiling softly. "So what was that book you were reading?"

It was in that moment that Kakashi swore he saw parts of his life flash before his eyes; most women didn't take to well to the fact that he read pornography in public, and he had a feeling that Lysylta would be one of those women. In the moment following that question, Kakashi found himself swearing to repay the debt that his student unknowingly put him into.

"Are you alright Kakashi-sensei?"

Lysylta turned to see two humans running over, one male and one female and both looking to be around twenty, perhaps a bit younger. The male had dark hair and wore simplistic clothing; a white, open shirt, black gloves, unrestrictive pants and sandals that Lysylta had seen on many ninja.

The girl was who grabbed the witch's attention though; Bright green eyes and vividly pink hair, rivaling the color of some of the flowers she had seen in the Feywilds. Her clothing was more form fitting than the males, consisting of reds and blacks with a bit of pink; a vest, sturdy gloves, tight shorts, and another pair of sandals. Had she not been preoccupied with staring at her hair Lysylta might have wondered why there seemed to be an obsession with sandals here.

"I'm fine Sakura; my clothes are a bit burnt but Lysylta-san otherwise left me unelectrocuted." Kakashi replied, giving an eye smile and a thumbs up. "These are my students; I don't know if anyone explained how this works, but Jounin level ninja take on teams of genin—the lowest ranking ninja—so we can teach them."

"Sasuke Uchiha." The male greeting, attempting an amicable smile and inclining his head; the boy seemed to be unaccustomed to being sociable. He seemed a bit nervous, Lysylta noticed; not overly surprising, seeing as she had put his teacher on the ropes so to speak.

"Sakura Haruno; thanks for not beating him up too badly. We need him functioning so we can get ready for the chuunin exams."

"You're pretty." Lysylta replied, smiling.

"Err…thank you?" Sakura blushed, not entirely sure how to react to that.

"Is your hair natural? I haven't seen any humans with anything but blonde, brown, or black; well, Kakashi has silver but that's still not that exotic." Lysylta asked taking a step closer to Sakura while she spoke. She missed Sasuke throwing Kakashi a questioning look and getting a shrug in response.

"Look, if you're going to end this conversation with what you think is a scathing remark about my hair color—which is damn well natural by the way—then social etiquette be damned, I will knock you the hell out." Sakura growled out; she'd been dealing with two main sources of mockery in her life, her hair and her lack of bust, and she had been fed up and decking people for about three years now.

"Why would I do that? Your hair is very beautiful; I've only seen a shade of pink that pretty in the Feywilds." Lysylta replied, putting her hands up in a placating gesture but taking another step closer. "It must look wonderful when it's long."

"I…err, I haven't had it long since I was a little girl." Sakura had learned to deal with a lot of things in life, and this wasn't on the list. Normally women in Konoha were pretty friendly, but this was a bit much right off the bat. "It's not good to have long hair in combat; something else to grab."

"Pity; I'm sure it would look marvelous if it fell at least to your lower back. Or lower." Lysylta added, giving a wink while Sakura's cheeks lit up. "Let me know if you ever want it grown out magically, mmkay beautiful?"

"Uh…s-sure…"

"You've got a ten minute break before we start the genjutsu portion." Tsunade shouted out, returning to whatever discussion the council was having.

"Maybe you should go talk to some of the other ninja here; a couple of jounin brought their teams and it might benefit you to know some of your future comrades." Sasuke quickly suggested, trying to make it seem off-handed.

"I suppose that would be a wise choice; you never know who will be fighting beside you." Lysylta remarked, smiling lightly as though recalling a fond memory. "Thank you… Sasuke, correct?"

"Yes."

"Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura." Lysylta repeated the names a few times, pointing at each person upon saying their names. "I will remember that. Let me know if you ever need a potion or a spell."

"Will do." Kakashi replied, giving an eye smile as Lysylta turned and walked towards the small crowd.

"Was…I just getting hit on by a woman in a witch hat?" Sakura asked, eye twitching.

"With fox ears." Kakashi replied, taking out the other—and more importantly unharmed—Icha Icha Paradise Book that he owned.

"Greetings humans." Lysylta greeted, having found a group that looked interesting. It looked to be another group of two males and one female; these ninja were very odd. One male buzzed softly and smelled of tiny wings; the other male had a large dog beside him and smelled of beasts; and the woman had beautiful, deep purple hair and smelled of kindness.

"Hey there beautiful." Kiba greeting, giving his best smile while Akamaru sighed beside him, already knowing how this was going to go; Kiba didn't know who he was trying to flirt with despite his partner trying to give him some warning.

"Keep it in your pants, Kiba." Shino cut in, expression hidden behind sunglasses and a high collar. Lysylta thought the hood was a bit much, but she tried not to make a comment as he turned to her. "Don't pay him much mind; He'll bark a lot, but he doesn't bite. He's also trying to get into your pants; I know that tone."

"I'd be more concerned about my bite if I were you; this strain of Lycanthropy only has a forty-percent survival rate."

"What?" Hinata asked, turning to face Lysylta with the hope of an explanation; she'd always been a bit bad with humor and was worried that she would offend the woman if she didn't understand a joke. Up until that moment she had been trying to see where her sensei had stormed off too, essentially coming into the conversation just as Lysylta remarked on the lethality of lycanthropy.

"This strain of lycanthropy—that is, being a werefox—has a high chance of killing anyone afflicted by it while the disease is changing the body; of course, women have a thirty percent higher chance of surviving… the initial… the… Wow, you have beautiful eyes. Oh and your hair! I haven't even seen this shade in the Feywilds!" Lysylta exclaimed, violating almost every definition of personal space as she stood beside Hinata with a lock of her long hair drooped over a finger.

"O-oh I U-u-uh, wh-what are you doing?" Hinata stammered out, surprised by the sudden closeness. "U-uh, th-thank you for the complim-ments, c-can yo-ou uh, um, coul-d… you—"

"What are you saying… oh you have a stutter!" Lysylta realized, taking a step back with a smile, "I was worried that I was going to have to learn another language; I didn't realize you weren't saying new words."

"Japanese isn't your first language?" Shino asked, eyeing her from behind his glasses. Her interest in Hinata was odd and the knowledge that she obviously wasn't from Konoha, or perhaps the Elemental nations in their whole given that Japanese was the only real language in them, made it all the more so.

"No, I learned Common and Elven first, followed by Draconic and Primordial. I also know a few Supernal words for those few occasions where you need to rewrite existence." Lysylta replied happily, already accepting the fact they wouldn't understand what that meant. In truth it annoyed her that this world was so culturally different from Evanon; one race and one language sounded great for unity, but they were apparently still intent on killing each other. And the scheming! The bigger a population of a race, the more schemers there were and that Danzo reeked of treachery and schemes; she would have just taken his head off then and there if she hadn't been trying for a good impression.

"So… y-you know a lot of languages?" Hinata asked, still flushed, "I-I'm jealous, I've always w-wanted t-t-to learn a new language."

"Tell me about your eyes and I'll teach you some words in Elven." Lysylta replied, fox-grin wide on her lips. Hinata flushed under Lysylta's gaze, yet she found herself transfixed by the twin amethysts the woman passed off for eyes.

"M-my eyes? A-all the people from the Hyuuga Clan have eyes like these; it's the Byakugan."

"Oh I really doubt they have your eyes, sweetheart." Lysylta gave her best smile, causing the young heiress to blush an even deeper shade of red.

"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" Kiba asked, unsure if he was really seeing Hinata—dear, sweet Hinata—being hit on by the new woman.

"Is everyone as friendly as you, where you come from I mean?" Shino interjected, catching Lysylta's attention and sparing the flushed Hinata for a moment. "And are their moods as mercurial?"

"Yes and no on both counts. From what I've gathered murder is a lot less common here, though I don't know how I feel about that yet." Lysylta shrugged, "But that aside, the people I associate with are roughly this nice and roughly as mercurial in mood."

"You're making a great case for why you should be allowed to interact with society." Kiba remarked, leaning back on Akamaru a bit more.

"Ask yourself this: whose fault would it be if someone provoked me to the point where I killed them?" Lysylta replied, face drifting from the carefree smile she had before. "Call it a culture gap, but where I'm from you don't tempt fate by antagonizing those who have the power to kill you; my mood will have little bearing in my interactions with "society" as long as no one is dumb enough to provoke me."

The silence that followed was tense and carried the weight of a hundred stares; conversation had died during Lysylta's remark as the gathering tried to listen in, all judging the woman who stood before them. She felt the eyes upon her and shrugged it off; it was far less stressful than her naming ceremony, where the whole pack had been staring at her.

"Hey hey, enough standing around." Tsunade called out, shattering the silence. "Lysylta-san, get back on the field; the Genjutsu test is happening."

"I thought you said ten minutes." Lysylta complained with a sign, shrugging after a moment and heading back out to the field.

"Things change quickly in the world of ninja." Tsunade replied as she watched the lycan take her place opposite of Kurenai. "Speaking of the ninja world, not everything is as it seems; masters of Genjutsu can and will destroy your very concept of reality with a few handsigns and a burst of chakra. Kurenai here will be your Genjutsu opponent; as you apparently have no illusions of your own, this match is slightly different. All you have to do is locate Kurenai after thirty seconds; during that time she will be layering genjutsus on you as you attempt to break them in order to find her. Do you understand?"

"So should I just follow her position with my finger?" Lysylta asked, actually hearing a few people laugh in the crowd like she had said something funny.

"Yeah, yeah just do that." Tsunade was getting annoyed with this situation; council's nagging and Lysylta's personality aside, she was about an hour late for daily date with alcohol.

"Alright, start whenever." Lysylta smiled and pointed at Kurenai.

Tsunade watched as the first few genjutsu fell unto Lysylta simultaneously, a testament to Kurenai's skill. To all but the most perceptive it would seem that nothing would change other than Lysylta seemingly losing her ability to sense Ku—

"That… is impressive."

"Impossible, Kurenai has been laying on at least two genjutsu at a time and the girl hasn't even dispelled the first!"

Ten seconds later, after her mind had run through all of its information to try and explain the sight before her, Tsunade managed to get her thoughts together to the point where she could let out an amazed chuckle. Lysylta was following Kurenai's movements with amazing precision; some part of Tsunade told her that she should have expected this.

Kurenai seemed to be close to losing her shit however, using some genjutsu that were famous for permanently scarring the target if they survived. It didn't help her mood when Lysylta seemed to be totally unaffected by them; she stood totally still, save for her arm as she kept her finger perfectly aligned with Kurenai.

"Enough; thirty seconds have passed." Tsunade called out, smiling as Kurenai stopped moving and leveled a glare at Lysylta's outstretched arm. The crowd broke out into short-lived murmurs, all quickly silenced by Lysylta raising her hand and snapping. A burst of chakra blew wind across the whole field, a side effect of Lysylta breaking every genjutsu at once. "Impressive. There will be no break this time however; the Taijutsu portion is next."

"Make sure to use less of your anger next time." Lysylta commented as Kurenai turned to leave. Her response was an angry scowl. Lysylta tapped her temple, smiling wickedly, "I'm not scared of the Hell inside your head; next time show me mine."

Kurenai's brow furrowed in confusion as Gai walked past her and onto the field. She lingered for a moment before disappearing into the crowd to find her team, slightly unsure of what her opponent had meant. All she could do now was watch and hope that Lysylta got hit enough to take her down a few levels; the woman was far from Kurenai's good graces after her comment regarding genjutsu and far too cocky for her tastes. She'd probably be right up her friend's alley though.

"Hey, can I get a minute to stretch first? I haven't been doing a lot of moving today." Lysylta shouted out, making Gai pause in taking his stance. He nodded with a smile and thumbs up.

"I have high hopes for your skill, Lysylta-san! Take your time in stretching; it sets such a youthful example!" He exclaimed, smile wide and shiny. His exuberance made Lysylta pause mid-stretch though she soon let out a laugh as she arced her back and popped it a few times.

"I like you as well; you are funny but earnest. Would you care terribly if I left my coat and hat with someone? I prefer to take them off if I have to fight as the beasts do." She had asked casually enough, though she saw some caution in his eyes. "They're not weighted or anything; I'm not getting any special benefits from having them off other than not having to deal with fixing them later if they get scuffed up."

"A ninja should only wear what they can fight in; I have no problem letting you remove them, but next time you should perhaps leave such articles at home." Gai replied, standing at the ready.

"So serious…" Lysylta replied, slipping her coat off her shoulders and half-folding it before walking towards the crowd.

"Where are you going?" Tsunade asked as she got closer to the gathered ninja.

"Just giving it to the only person I trust not to rifle through the hat or the jacket." Lysylta replied as though it were obvious as she stepped through the first line of people and gave Hinata her best smile. "So how about it sweetheart, mind watching my coat and hat for a while?"

"U-uh… m-m-me?" Hinata asked, suddenly feeling the weight of everyone's stares on her. Kurenai was oddly silent behind her as this occurred, perhaps wanted to see what happened.

"Yeah, you're the only one I trust to not meddle with my clothes; a person could lose their hand if they reached inside the wrong pocket or into the hat the wrong way. I keep all sorts of things in here, some very deadly and others very dear to my heart. Will you keep an eye on my things?" Lysylta asked, smiling softly as Hinata gave a slightly hesitant nod.

Perhaps not hesitant, Lysylta questioned, seeing an odd emotion in her eyes; almost like she was proud that a stranger trusted her like this. Nonetheless she gently rested the heavy square of cloth that was her coat in Hinata's hands before taking off her hat—ignoring the few murmurs that ran through the crowd regarding her ears—and putting it on Hinata's head. It was a loose fit without fox ears to hold it up, but Lysylta had to admit that the girl looked adorable in the oversized hat.

"When you're done trying to confuse people, you have an opponent to fight." Tsunade called out, a tic mark on her forehead. Konoha was fairly traditional in terms of marriage; a lot of ninja villages were like this, where having the ability to produce offspring supersedes the acceptance of other sexualities that can't. As it stood, less than one-percent of Konoha's population was openly homosexual while the entire concept was something that many never learn of or consider. Tsunade personally didn't care about sexual orientation so long as the person was useful to Konoha; as such she wasn't personally affected by Lysylta's preferences or the fact that she seemed to be fairly flirtatious.

This issue would arise from the rest of Konoha; people, especially the civilians who never know the chaos of a ninja's life or the necessity of adaptation, hated having their views on the world shaken up. Lysylta was going to throw the entire social culture of Konoha for a loop, intentionally or not, with simply her species and sexuality.

Right now though, the Lycan needed to be focused on proving she could be a ninja, not freaking out genin who probably wouldn't even recognize the flirting for what it was. Tsunade also realized the need for focus; the council wasn't particularly happy with any of this, and they were looking for holes in this plan after the little pissing contest Lysylta had with Danzo.

"I know, I know. At least I'm making an effort to be friendly." Lysylta replied as she took her stance across from Gai. He was a little unsure of why her hands weren't set into fists; her limbs weren't relaxed enough for an open-palmed stance. "If I can give you a piece of advice, Gai, it would be to dodge. I can't hold back my strength enough to not kill you if you want an honest demonstration of my skill; if you block you'll be ripped to shreds."

"You fight like the Inuzuka then, with claws instead of fists?" It was more of a statement than a question as Gai sunk into his stance. He took her words to heart however, preparing for an intense battle internally. "Let us give a truly youthful display!"

"Ready when you are." Lysylta replied, taking a deep breath. Tyro had spent at least half a decade showing her how to defend herself in hybrid form, beast form, and Fey form each; the hard part was going to be keeping her beast tamed enough to not transform.

"Begin!"

Gai started out on the offensive, rushing Lysylta and starting with a kick aimed at her mid-section. To his surprise she didn't make an effort to dodge, instead lunging forward herself and making a swipe at Gai as he corrected his path to avoid the gleaming blades that adorned the woman's fingers.

The maneuver landed him behind where she had been, facing her back and letting him immediately launch another attack. It was a solid punch aimed at the back of her head, though he was surprised when her tail came from the side and pushed the punch out of the way while she whirled around and swiped at him during the rotation.

Gai ducked under the spin, dropping to the ground for a leg-sweep that Lysylta flipped over, landing a few feet away while Gai righted himself.

He found himself bringing his arms up to block a swing when Lysylta's warning came to mind, making him awkwardly dodge the blow and the next one, though his balance was regained for the third swing, letting him dodge with a wider margin for error. It also let him observe how Lysylta was fighting for a moment.

It seemed that it was a flowing, acrobatic dance; if a downward swing brought her hand too far down she would simply let it keep going, striking at least three times while she was front-flipping. Gai felt a sudden lump in his stomach when his back touched a tree, barely rolling out the way in time to dodge the wide swing from her right claws.

He looked over in time to have his eyes widen as her whole arm sailed through the thick tree as though the entire thing was made of paper; splinters and chunks of wood flew everywhere while Lysylta seemed totally unfazed by the impact. Gai found himself dodging another strike with a bit of fear in his heart, however unyouthful such a thing was; he had a new respect for the brutal power in Lysylta's graceful assault. She had obviously practiced this technique for years, and the dedication was showing.

Still, years of experience will trump years of training; Gai found a minor balance issue in a repeating part of Lysylta's assault that he could exploit to attack her. She would either take the hit directly to the temple or fall to the ground on her back for a second. Gai waited for the section of her attacks to repeat, waiting for the perfect moment and making sure to keep at least one limb in a position to strike.

Then it happened in a flash; Lysylta's balance faltered minutely after a heavy swing and Gai lashed out with a powerful kick that saw his shin smashing into Lysylta's head.

Everyone was stunned silent as Lysylta continued unaffected, not having been bothered by the attack enough to have anything to shrug off. In a fluid motion she grabbed both of Gai's wrists, pinned his foot with her own and grabbed his leg with her tail. Her free leg came up swiftly between Gai's legs, halting completely a hair's breadth from his crotch.

"Do you give up or would you like me to continue?"

"I think… I will have to take the path of a youthful surrender." Gai replied, letting out a sigh of relief when Lysylta released him and lowered her leg. "Your strength and speed are simply astounding; you must have worked very hard for this power and control."

Lysylta blushed and smiled, scratching her cheek sheepishly.

"Hey hey, you're making me blush." She complained playfully, still smiling. "You make for a good opponent yourself Gai; not many humans can find the will to attack a Lycan in the middle of an assault like that. Next time though… hit a little harder; I didn't really feel that blow."

"That was a fairly impressive kick, Lysylta-san. You must have known great pain to simply shrug it off like that." Gai remarked, for more somber. Lysylta just smiled, and shook her head.

"If I got everything for nothing, it wouldn't bring such joy to my heart when I got to use it."

"A youthful answer indeed! I hope that the council finds you worthy; Good luck, Lysylta-san. I would like a rematch one day, if the will to indulge me surfaces."

"Thank you Gai; I will keep that in mind. Let me know if you ever need a potion; you melee fighters are always getting banged up."

"Alright everyone, the show's over. You can get back to training and screwing off now." Tsunade shouted out over the din of the crowd. The egress was mildly noisy as almost everyone left talking about what they had seen; someone going toe-to-toe with three of the best ninja in Konoha, masters in their respective fields.

"L-lysylta-san! Your coat and hat!" Hinata exclaimed as she jogged over, worried that the woman would forget the articles of clothing.

"Ah, thanks. I feel oddly exposed without my coat, but the sleeve can get in the way a bit." Lysylta said with a smile, taking the hat from the Hyuuga's head and setting it back on her own. "Much better."

"Oh, th-those are…" Hinata mumbled, more to herself than the lycan who decided to respond.

"They're arcane seals that channel metamagic for me; it beats having to do the incantation addition." Lysylta replied, smiling, "Of course, a lot of my spells don't need incantations anymore."

"I… oh, n-no, I just thought… w-well, that th-they were just a weird sleeve or something, wh-when you were fighting that is, and I didn't really n-notice when you h-handed me the coat. I've never seen a w-woman with tattoos before."

"Wow, how sheltered were you?" Lysylta joked, making the girl turn red as she handed Lysylta's jacket over.

"Actually it's pretty rare for women to get tattoos here; culturally speaking most people would look down on it." Tsunade interjected, acknowledging Hinata's bow and dismissing the girl. "Then again, there are two cultures in Konoha: The Shinobi and the Civilians. Ultimately the Shinobi are more welcoming in terms of adaptation; we have to be if we want to live and accepting someone as odd as you won't be hard for us. The civilians are another story; you've somehow managed to embody several things that either scare them or go totally against their cozy little ideas about how the world should work."

"Meaning I'm a strong, non-human lesbian with enough willpower to totally resist pressure and enough fire-power to wreck their shit if they push too hard?" Lysylta joked, smiling along with Tsunade as Hinata ran off to join her team.

"Meaning that I wasn't entirely on-board with having you become a ninja until I saw how badly they were shaken up by this; I can't be letting my people stagnate in an ever-changing world." Tsunade replied, smile wide as Sarutobi chuckled beside her. "So we're going to get you to the physical and mental examinations, but consider yourself a ninja of Konoha from here on out. Oh, and Lysylta… about that little spat with Danzo…"

"Yeah…?" Lysylta wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know where this was going, though Tsunade's grin made her want to find out.

"I want that to happen every time you get the chance; I haven't seen him sweat that much since I got this job. Understood? If you're going to have an issue with him, at least make it entertaining for me."

Tsunade smiled, recalling all the information in the book Tyro had given her again. They would wait before acting, and she had a feeling Lysylta was the key to pressuring the man into slipping up. Failing that, she could probably just ask her to kill him and then fabricate evidence of his guilt. The Godaime was starting to like that plan more and more, and Lysylta's wicked grin wasn't helping.

"With Pleasure."

* * *

Wow… okay, this sat at like 6 pages for the longest time before I managed to get it done. I don't like test scenes like this… or writing combat really. I get the most done by writing about the interactions between people, you know? Or at least that's what I think.

So at the close of chapter 2 we find that Lysylta is actually pretty flirtatious; will this be a signal for all the people that will be in her little harem? Yes and no. Yes, because she's not going to get with someone she hates(This isn't homestuck and I am not dealing with Quadrants right now), but no because she's going to flirt with a lot of women for a while. I already have the women picked out though, so no worries about that

Until next time, my freaky darlings!


	3. The Fox and the Town

Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddd here's the next chapter, my most freaky of darlings!

Depression is a very odd thing.

On to the story! You know, the one where our favorite little witch is wandering around Konoha looking for… well, if I said that here then there wouldn't be much point in my writing the chapter, now would there?

Enjoy, my Darlings!

* * *

"All these shops and not a single apothecary so far; how in the Nine Circles of Hell am I supposed to get Assassin Vine leaves for my experiments?!"

Several parts of the shopping district had heard similar complaints since early that morning; the source being Konaha's new resident witch, who was nearing the end of her rope.

"And not a single cute girl all morning." Lysylta lamented, head drooping—witch hat and all. She sighed and picked her head up, staring at the list she had made with some level of annoyance. It was mostly herbs for the experiments she had planned for alternate healing potions, or ones that could instead restore someone's mental stamina instead of physical stamina. A bit of a pet project compared to some of the things Tyro had her work on, but something she had been wanted to fool around with.

She had managed to find a small plethora of stores that sold some gardening supplies or plants, but judging from the looks she got when she handed them her list they didn't have the plants she needed. Though she was loathing admitting it, the fact that she had totally forgotten this place might have totally different flora and fauna than Tyro's was becoming more apparent. Still, if nothing else Lysylta was learning the layout of Konaha, which made the effort at least partially worth it.

"Yamanaka Flower Shop?" She muttered, almost missing the building as she walked by. It wasn't particularly inconspicuous, but then again she had been paying more attention to her thoughts than her surroundings; after all, the brew might explode if she was working with ingredients she didn't know about. "Well, it's better to look…"

With that she crossed the street, ignoring whatever looks were sent her way as she did; she'd be staring too if she was seeing a lycan for the first time in her life.

There was a light ding from the bell attached to the door, almost like it was too lazy to properly do its job. The inside of the shop was pretty much like she had expected; shelves and stands covered in potted plants, a few aisles with what looked to be little seed packets in them, and not a lot else. A familiar flash of pink caught her attention though.

"Well, fancy meeting you here." Lysylta greeted, giving a friendly smile as Sakura turned to see who was talking to her. A bit of color came to her cheeks upon seeing Lysylta and remembering their "conversation" a few days before. "Oh, who is _this_ cutie?"

Ino had a feeling that this was the woman that Sakura had been telling her about just a moment before, judging by the fact Lysylta was now leaning over with her elbows on the counter while giving Ino one of the more charming smiles she had ever gotten.

"U-uh… welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop." Ino started, not entirely sure how to deal with this. Maybe Sakura's story about the flirtatious woman wasn't just an exaggeration. "Can I help you find anything?"

"No, I think I've found just the flowers I'm looking for." Lysylta gave a wink that lit up Ino's cheeks. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Sakura looking relatively annoyed; blushing and a bit flustered on Ino's behalf, but annoyed.

"Are you here to buy something?" Sakura cut in, eliciting a sigh from the witch.

"Oh you're no fun; I haven't seen any cute girls all day and the first two I find don't even want to flirt back." She stood up and shrugged, "It's a cruel world I guess. Do you happen to carry Assassin Vine?"

"Assassin Vine?" Ino asked, slightly confused though glad for the break; the woman had a very… powerful presence, "Do you… know the scientific name?"

"Not off the top of my head. It's not that easy to miss though; dark vines, hand-shaped leaves, likes to strangle people that get too close?" She described, clicking her tongue when all she got was an odd look. "Didn't think so; I'm starting to think that this place has a distinct lack of the flora I need for my experiments."

"Well what are you looking for? I mean we might have something you're looking for; we carry a few more exotic plants than the other shops in Konaha." Ino offered, taking the list from Lysylta when she offered it. There was a pause as Ino read the list, re-read it, and then handed it back with an odd look. "I…am sorry but I can't read your handwriting."

"What are you talking about? My handwriting is neat as hell." Lysylta looked almost offended, taking the list back and looking over it to try and find what the issue was. A silent moment passed as the witch slapped her forehead, displacing her hat a little. "I wrote this in Elven."

"Elven?"

"Don't worry about it." Lysylta sighed, looking downtrodden now. It was sort of adorable, in a weird way. "I'm just going to get some seeds and do this the old fashion way."

"Okay… let me know if you need any help." Ino replied, finding the woman to become weirder with every turn.

"Well a kiss from someone as pretty as you might just fix my mood right up…" Lysylta winked, giggling a bit while Ino's face lit up. "I don't think that shopkeeps can kiss their patrons while they're tending the store though."

Ino was sure that Sakura would have been laughing at her if it hadn't been for the fact that she knew what Ino was feeling right now. Slightly less than a minute later Lysylta was setting down a decent number of seed packs on the counter alongside two roses; Ino wanted to comment on the roses, having a feeling that she knew where that purchase was going, but she thought better of it and rang up the total.

"Is that everything?" Ino asked, getting a nod and sigh. "It comes up to 1000 Yen."

"One-thousand…" Lysylta muttered as she took off her hat, ignoring Ino staring at her ears. She reached into her hat, feeling around for the dimensional pocket that led to her personal bank. "I'm still not used to the currency here; where I'm from we use copper, silver, and gold coins for currency. Who thought paper was a good idea?" She shook her head and handed the money to Ino, taking the bag with the seeds and sticking it in her hat, right into another pocket.

Sakura watched, not really willing to say much as Lysylta adjusted her hat; she didn't particularly want to draw the woman's attention.

"So I've been told that Konoha is a bit biased sexually." The witch casually commented, the two girls not blushing if only because of how out of place the comment seemed. She picked up the roses and smiled, eyes distant for a time. "You'll have to forgive me; I know that my flirting is odd for you." She finished, addressing both of them.

"So… you were flirting with me the other day." Sakura blushed lightly, looking away. Ino seemed a bit flustered by the realization, though she seemed a bit more interested in the fact that Lysylta was looking at Sakura pretty intently.

"Yes, I was."

There was a brief silence.

"Do you just do that with every woman you meet?"

"No, not usually. Just the ones I think are beautiful, inside or out." Lysylta smiled, giving a flourish with the hand holding the roses. When the motion stopped, the two could see that the roses had vanished. "Thank you for humoring me. It might annoy you, but at least I try to be charming about it. Have a nice day you two; stop by if you ever need a spell."

And with that she left, tail swishing happily behind her. As the bell jingled to announce the obvious egress of the witch, Sakura found herself smiling lightly as she watched Lysylta disappear into the crowd, heading for some unknown destination.

She had never met someone so openly homosexual, or at least that's what Sakura though she was; as it stood, Lysylta had certainly made it seem like that was the case. It was a little off-putting in its own way, yet flattering in a unique sense of the word.

"Well that was…new." She finally said, turning to face Ino and seeing her looking out the door after the witch as well. It took a moment for her brain to catch up with her eyes. "Uh… Ino. You have something in your hair."

"What?" Ino reached up, tentatively patting her head to try and find what her friend was talking about as she turned to her. A light poke on her finger hit her about the same time as she saw Sakura's hair. "Hey, there's a… did she just…?"

Sakura reached up above her ear, guessing since it's where she saw Ino's, and gently dislodged the rose resting there. She wasn't sure what to make of the now bright pink petals, nor the golden petals of Ino's rose.

"I think we just got hit on… again." Sakura laughed, turning the rose over a few times while Ino delicately examined hers. She looked up after a moment, leaning forward on the counter with her elbows.

"Should I tell her I have a boyfriend?" Ino giggled, blushing a bit. The rose hadn't brought much emotion to her other than surprise and a reminder that some people preferred the company of the same sex; Konoha wasn't a big place for that, but she'd met a few gay guys while out on missions. Still, it was oddly flattering in and of itself.

"Probably not; I'd hate to see what she'd do if she thought it was a challenge." It was a response coupled with a bit of giggling. "As long as she's not trying to cop any feels, I don't think there'll be any problems from her…antics."

"So what are you going to do with the rose then?" Ino asked, drawing Sakura's attention back to the lithe flower.

"Well… I feel like it'd be rude to throw it away or anything. Plus it's pink; can't say I've seen any pink roses." She laughed again, smiling, "Do you have a vase I could borrow?"

It was kind of odd, at least in Sakura's mind, that she was intent on keeping the rose; normally her borderline hatred for material gifts would have warranted getting rid of the rose, but she wrote it off as preserving a memento of an odd encounter. She supposed that Lysylta had a point though; if nothing else, she was at least charming.

-¤҈¤-

Lysylta had to admit that skipping along was drawing more looks than walking, but she sort of reveled in the attention; she had gotten used to stares while being the only fox in a pack of wolves. Besides, her mood was too high to allow for mere walking.

She reminded herself of Tsunade's warning regarding her sexuality and the general attitude of Konoha about such things, but at the same time she couldn't care less. What were they going to do, shun her?

It was almost cute in a way, Lysylta pondered as she skipped onward, that Konoha was apparently almost homophobic. In a way, it was understandable; it had been built in a time where having children, the next generation, took priority over personal preference. Over time such things become unspoken social rules, even if the times changed. There was peace now, even if it was a bit tentative; even in the midst of war though, or perhaps especially, one should listen to their heart and not society. After all, if you were to die tomorrow, wouldn't today have been wasted if you didn't tell someone you loved them?

Lysylta let the thought of death slip from her mind; such grim things were unfitting of such nice days.

"Now then…" She started, casually hopping up onto a rooftop; she heard a few people mutter something along the lines of "weird freaking ninjas", but she dismissed it with a chuckle as she tried to get her bearings. As it stood, her current intent was to go to the training grounds and try to look for some herbs on her own; it was unlikely to turn up anything good, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Unfortunately this was a slightly different part of Konoha so she only really had a rough direction, but she tried not to overthink it; as long as she got to the training grounds it wouldn't really matter which she ended up at. Just for the sake of being thorough she decided to commit to checking two or three of the fields though; the day was still young, so it wasn't like she was short on time.

As Lysylta casually skipped along the rooftops, she let her mind wander a bit until it eventually came back to something that had been nagging at her from the back of her mind.

The Queen's Right. She had known that it had technically been in effect since her naming ceremony, but no one had really paid it much mind; certainly not her, anyway, seeing as her days were always filled with study, practice, and not a lot else. She understood the purpose but the thought of juggling her affections between people wasn't the most pleasant; nonetheless, she decided to take it as it was. She was still technically the head of the Deth Skulk now, just as Tyro was the head of the Deth Pack, and it would be unseemly to rebel against tradition in such a position. The pact had few politics, but this was one of the few that warranted a cautious approach.

"Actually most of the Pack's politics have to be approached carefully…" She sweatdropped as she skipped, coming to a halt. Alpha, beta, omega… those and many more were the ranks within the varied teirs of packs, and everything was about as mercurial as one would expect. There were the basic politics of having a group of people together in general as well, coupled with ancient traditions and rules that Tyro himself had hastily scribed once the Deth Pack had been formed.

There were few loopholes in the rules despite Tyro's apparent rush in writing them, though proof of their existence lied in Lysylta's situation. Thinking of Tyro did remind her that she could technically just accept the Right but not take more than one partner, but then again it wasn't entirely unlikely that she'd just naturally find multiple partners in which case the Right would be remarkably useful.

If nothing else the sex sounded promising.

"Well at least there's not a time limit or anything. Not like I'm going to die of old age any time soon." She shrugged, adjusting her coat a bit afterward and letting her mind shift to her experiment. "Maybe I should get an assistant at some point; or at least a maid. Well, I could do that with magic I guess… wow, now I know how Tyro managed to live so long on his own; you can get really lazy with magic."

The mental image of her father lying on a sofa while magic hands cleaned the room and brought him alcohol was too amusing to not grin at. All together though Lysylta considered the company of someone in a house that big to be a greater issue than what they're doing there.

"Maybe I can get a cute little maid that'll run around in one of those adorable outfits for me." Lysylta muttered to herself, a bit of color in her cheeks as she suppressed a giggle and resisted the urge to visualize the maid in favor of the task at hand.

It definitely wasn't the one that she had been tested on, but it looked mostly the same; big open field, lots of trees near the back, and three pillars of wood stuck in the ground. By most standards this would be the standard image when one hears "Training Grounds".

Standard was also a good way to describe the flora around Konoha thusfar; which is to say, nothing that could help her experiments along. She half considered just going home since the pickings looked to be slim, but at the same time a bit of searching might not be totally useless.

It was hardly past noon anyway and it wasn't like she had anything planned for the day.

The walk between the grounds was silent for Lysylta, who didn't even really both to think loud enough for it to be considered noise.

Though she had fully been expecting to see a team at one of the grounds she visited, Lysylta was slightly surprised to see a set of familiar faces as she neared the field.

"Good evening, beautiful. Fancy seeing you again." Lysylta greeted behind Hinata, causing the girl to jump. She whirled around with a startled blush, doubly surprised to see Lysylta there. Kiba and Shino were about fifty feet away, sparring while Kurenai went back to her apartment for something. "What, never gotten a compliment before?" She teased, giving Hinata smile.

"S-sorry, Lysylta-san. I didn't exp-pect anyone to c-come up behind me…" Hinata replied, blush dying down. She had actually been meaning to try and talk to the woman anyway, so this was a good turn of events. "U-um, Lysylta-san?"

"Yes dear?" Lysylta replied sweetly, giving a smile that put a bit of color back in Hinata's cheeks.

"K-kiba-kun has in his h-head that you were f-flirting with me the other day and h-he hasn't d-dropped it since. C-Could you please tell him that's s-silly?" Hinata asked awkwardly, naivety on full display and electing a laugh from Lysylta.

"I was indeed flirting with you. I'm noticing that the women here don't pick up on my flirting that well though, so don't feeling bad."

There was a brief silence as Hinata turned even redder than before.

"O-oh…" was about the only word she managed to get out clearly, though Lysylta managed to pick up a mumbled "B-but we're both girls…" from the girl as she twiddled her fingers while looking away.

"I have a feeling that this is going to be the general reaction too." Lysylta sighed, shaking her head. "Would you like to help me look for some herbs around the training grounds? I promise to keep my hands to myself." She winked, giggling when Hinata lit up even further. "Come on, I could use the company."

"U-uhh, o-okay…" Hinata stuttered, bashfully following Lysylta as she strode towards the treeline.

"Relax, I'm not going to start groping you once we get overt here." Lysylta said over her shoulder, trying for a disarming smile. Her statement seemed to add a couple shades to Hinata's already red face, leaving the Lycan to decide to change topics. "Do you know if any of the plants around here are supposed to have healing properties?"

It wasn't an outwardly huge improvement, but Hinata smiled lightly, a hint of confidence flashing in her shy eyes. Apparently this was a far more comfortable subject for her.

"Th-there's a mint that has some antiseptic p-properties if you b-boil it's leaves." She pointed out a nearby plant, growing in the shade of a tree. "I-it looks a lot l-like spearmint, b-but it smells sweeter."

"That's good to know; not quite what I'm looking for but it's a good place to start." Lysylta pulled a pouch from her coat and stuck a few cuttings from the plant in it, replacing the pouch and pulling out an empty one for the next plant she saw.

"W-what are you l-looking for?"

"Anything that deals with more… mental problems. Stress or fatigue relief. Perhaps something that helps with sleep, if a plant like that grows around here."

"Out in the forest th-there's a flower th-that's supposed to make a tea l-like that." Hinata replied, pausing for a moment, "B-but I don't know i-if it grows inside the w-walls."

"Why did you follow me?"

The question had been so sudden and seemingly out of place that Hinata had to take a moment to question whether or not Lysylta had actually wanted her to come. A million and one reasons for her to be embarrassed came to mind as the witch in front of her laughed at her all-but-glowing cheeks and expression.

"I-I-I'm, I d-didn't, I th-thought-", Hinata stammered out, waving her arms as she had her little freak out.

"You're adorable when you're all flustered." Lysylta cut in, adding a shade or two to the heiress' already red face. "I asked you to follow, but I'm surprised you did since I apparently make you uncomfortable."

"I-I never said—you d-don't…" Hinata managed to stop herself and take a breath upon seeing Lysylta waiting patiently for whatever reply she had, a smile on her face all the while. "I'm u-used t-to men t-trying to f-flatter m-me, n-not wom-men."

Lysylta had done her best not to sweep the adorably awkward girl off her feet then and there, but the act of willpower managed to limit her actions to a laugh before she replied.

"That's a pity; someone as pretty as you should be getting flattered from both sides."

"I… should be?" Lysylta considered the statement to quite possibly be the only thing she'd hear from the girl that wouldn't be stuttered.

"Well, it's hardly my place to give social commentary since I'm a bit foreign, but where I'm from gender isn't all that important in relationships." Lysylta shrugged as she leaned against a nearby tree, looking pensive for a moment. "It's a bit jarring for me to come here and have my tastes questioned, to be honest."

"O-oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I didn't say you were the one doing it, it's just something I know is going to crop up more than once." Lysylta gave a disarming smile, finding the girl's overreactions to be endearing. "By the way, what's your name sweetheart? I'm not too surprised you know my name since I'm the new girl, but I don't think I ever got your name."

She laughed as Hinata turned yet another new shade of red; it seemed to a skill of hers.

"I'm s-sorry! I'm Hinata Hyuuga."

"Lysylta Deth; pleased to meet you."

Lysylta took the opportunity to close the gap between them, taking Hinata's hand as she knelt before her and gently kissed it. She flashed the Hyuuga another smile as she rose, restraining laughter at how unsure the girl looked.

"A-am I supposed to d-do th-that too? I-is that something f-from your country?"

"No, but I won't exactly stop you." Lysylta replied happily, a mischievous grin on her lips. "Though I suppose if you're going to overpower me and ravish me with kisses, you could at least make sure most of those kisses are on my lips."

"I-If I w-what?!"

"Of course, I'll have to fight to defend these virgin lips, but under such relentless desire how will I hold out?"

Lysylta brought the back of her hand to her forehead and pretending to swoon, rotating just enough that her back was to Hinata as she tipped over; she intended to catch herself before she got too close to the ground and then tease the girl about not catching her, but it seemed that Hinata caught her out of reflex.

"I-I.. u-umm…" Hinata stuttered out, flushing as Lysylta slung her arm over Hinata's shoulders and righted herself; the final position ended up being Hinata sandwiched between Lysylta and a tree, Lysylta's arm keeping the brim of her hat up. Their faces were close enough that the witch could feel the heat of the girl's blush.

"Well now, my heroine." Lysylta praised, a soft smile on her lips and a faint blush on her cheeks. Being "saved" was an interesting feeling, even if she had been capable of stopping the fall herself.

There was a long silence as the two of them stood there; Hinata was silent due to the sudden closeness and surprise, her face so red Lysylta half suspected that her vital functions might have been put on hold just to funnel that much blood to her face. The witch pinning the girl—though she wasn't actually physically pinning her—was silent simply because this was a first for her as well. It had been a spur of the moment action, and she had no idea what to do next.

"Are….are y-you going to… k-kiss me?" Hinata asked more because she had been under the impression that's what the witch was planning and was confused as to why it wasn't happening. For a moment she wondered if it was just a case of having read too many romance novels, though she was surprised when Lysylta's face lit up to possibly match her own.

"Do… you want me to?" Lysylta asked, shifting a little bit and stopping halfway through the act of biting her lip. Confident flirting and playing around aside, this was possibly the most intimate moment she had ever had, and she had definitely missed out of things like her first kiss due to training. That said, she wouldn't that experience for anything.

"I… thought y-you were g-go-oing to when you pinned me."

"Didn't answer my question Hinata…"

Lysylta was confused for a moment when Hinata didn't answer; it wasn't the sort of silence you hear that means no. It was that silence you hear when someone is considering something very deeply, where you can see the indecision flashing in their eyes. People don't go from never having been hit on by a woman to wanting to be kissed by one in five minutes though.

"I…could m-move, right?"

"I'm not holding you here." There was another pause as Hinata stood still, contemplating just moving out of the position. Lysylta, feeling too awkward to just stay still, hesitantly moved her face a bit closer to Hinata. The heiress jumped a little from the sudden motion after such stillness, but didn't move. "You've got about five seconds left, I think. To move."

"Sh-should I? We don't… know each other th-that well."

At this point her words were almost brushing Lysylta's lips as they rode out on her breath.

"I don't want you to."

The union of their lips arrived without interruption or fanfare, lasting a few seconds while they both took in the sensation of their first kiss. Their eyes drifted back open as Lysylta pulled back, making them wonder when they had shut.

Lysylta leaned back further than she had originally been, giving them both a bit of room to breathe while they stared at each other.

"Remind me to take you herb-hunting again sometime." Was all that Lysylta could think to say, cursing how stupid that sounded; years of training and study and all she could come up with was a borderline creepy comment. Admittedly her training had been for magic and not flirting 101, but she still found herself annoyed with the lacking statement.

"O-okay…" was Hinata's reply as she bashfully tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, smiling lightly. "Th-that was n-"

"HINATA! Where'd you go?"

The shout came from the direction of the training field, making the two girls jump apart as though it had come from three feet to the left. Lysylta had the decency to blush right alongside Hinata, offering a slightly apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry about that; I don't normally—I mean, I've never kissed…" She trailed off, glad that Hinata at least nodding in understanding of some part of the rushed apology.

"I-it's alright. I…it was nice." Lysylta watched the Hyuuga absently touch her lips, smiling shyly through a blush. "I-I should go, it wouldn't b-be good if they came back here."

"Probably not. Ah, here!"

Hinata jumped as Lysylta waved her hand in front of her face, a sensation like a breeze washing over her face. "There! It's a tiny illusion to hide your blush for a few minutes; it'll look weird if you come out of the woods blushing."

"I thought y-you didn't like-"

"I know what I said and I stand by it, but it doesn't mean I don't know simple little illusions like this. A lady has to look her best after all… and acne was not kind to me when I was younger."

"How old a-are you? Somet-times you sound l-like you're old-der."

"I think you're supposed to give your age first." Lysylta replied with a wink, a little annoyed that she couldn't see the girl's adorable blush.

"O-oh! I'm sorry, I'm nineteen."

"I'm-"

"Hinata? Is that you back there?"

"I'm going to have to tell you next time. Bye cutie!"

Lysylta winked and used a minor teleport spell to disappear just as Kiba rounded a tree and would have been able to see her.

"There you are! Geez, Shino and I thought you got dragged off into the woods by a bear. What are you doing back here?" he asked, slightly confused as to why his teammate looked so spaced out.

"I… saw something pretty, but I lost track of it." She replied, not stuttering for once. Apparently Lysylta's spell worked, considering that Kiba couldn't tell how red she had turned.

"Huh, with your eyes I didn't think that was possible. Ah well, happens to the best of us." Kiba shrugged, not really seeing anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't the first time that she had walked into the trees, though she didn't normally walk this deep or not shout back. Still, nothing terribly out of place. "Now come on, its Shino's turn to buy the food and I'll be damned if we don't wring him out because of all that junk I had to buy for him."

Lysylta giggled as her legs dangled from the branches above the genin, watching Hinata follow the ranting Inuzuka out of the woods. That had been interesting.

She had expected little more than some teasing opportunities while she tried to get to know the girl a bit better, not the opportunity to kiss her. Not even an opportunity in retrospect, she guessed, considering that she had opted to kiss the Hyuuga instead of pondering the chance.

Part of Lysylta worried that Hinata might have been coerced into it unintentionally by the force of her personality, but at the same time Hinata's eyes didn't lie.

A shift of weigh and a graceful landing later Lysylta found herself skipping through the woods, mood lifted beyond what it had been earlier. It looked like living with humans was going to be interesting if nothing else.

-¤҈¤-

"Please spar with me, Lysylta-chan!"

"Gai, your clone is doing it again." Lysylta sighed, trying to get some space. She had managed to stumble on yet another team; apparently Gai was the leader of this one. She might have otherwise avoided the interaction, but she had caught sight of a cute girl and her course of action was decided for her at that point.

"Now now Lysylta-san, Lee is merely eager to test his skills against an opponent his sensei fought!" Gai replied with his usual exuberance.

"Yes! And in doing so I shall win your heart!"

"That is the least tactful thing I've heard all year, congratulations. No one has ever beaten my brother in being totally tactless with women. I'd congratulate you, but I don't think this should be celebrated." Lysylta sighed, taking another sidestep to distance herself from Lee. "Look, I really don't think you should be pursuing me so hard kiddo."

"Why? Do you have a crush? I shall defeat-"

"I'm just going to stop you right there." Lysylta interjected, slapping her hand over Lee's mouth. "I'm going to say this very slowly, okay?"

"Yes." Or at least it sounded like an affirmative through her hand.

"I am a lesbian: I like boobies, not men in spandex. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I'm gonna go hit on Tenten now." Lysylta removed her hand, patted Lee on his slightly shell-shocked head, and took a step towards Tenten, who seemed too amused at her handling of Lee to be embarrassed. Or she might just not believe her. "So how are you doing beautiful?"

"Please, if not for love, spar me so I may retain my honor!"

"Oh by the goddess…" Lysylta complained, hearing a laugh from Tenten as the witch turned to face Lee with her hands on her hips. "Look, I know seeing me fight your sensei got you all hot and bothered, but I don't really like fighting hand-to-hand if it's just sparring; I'd probably tear you in half on a backswing. Besides, when I can't zap or burn the shit out of something before it gets close I have a nice little weapon that eats my enemies for me, and I am not using it against an unarmed opponent."

The second the word weapon came out of her mouth, Lysylta found Lee blocked out of her line of sight as Tenten jumped in front of her, looking far too excited.

"Did you say you're a weapon user too? What kind of weapon is it? Can I see it?"

"Okay, I feel like this might be a double standard since I just told him off for basically the same thing… but I'm alright with this." Lysylta smiled, wondering how many women in Konoha would be so… willing to get close. When Tenten realized that she was violating some degree of personal space, she backed off and scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Sorry… about that. I get excited when someone says weapon like that, like a specific weapon that you're attached to." Tenten's voice gained a level of confidence as it shifted from apologetic, "It usually means that you've also put some training into learning said weapon."

"Quite a bit to assume based on tone and context, but very accurate nonetheless. I like that." Lysylta gave a wink before continuing, Tenten taking it in stride, "I use a war-scythe made of Mythril, enchanted about seven times over and branded with vorpal magic. My brother is a hell of a weaponsmith when he wants to be. His name is Thyzandros; the scythe, not my brother. He's Vladimir."

Tenten's look fell for a second, thinking that this was some kind of lame video-game reference until she watched the witch pull the massive blade out of the air.

The craftsmanship was beyond superb, elegance mixing seamlessly with functionality. A scythe was a farm tool, not a weapon of war, but apparently someone had managed to make this one jump the gap. The entire thing was a deep blue, with reliefs and writing etched into seeming every inch of both the black-leather covered handle and the massive, gently curved blade. There was an unnatural luster and sheen to the scythe, showing some minor wear despite otherwise looking brand new; it was also slightly harder to ignore the bluish wisps of smoke that escaped from the cutting edge as it seemed to waver and flicker like a specter.

"If you think this looks cool, wait till you see what it can do."

Lysylta waved everyone away from the nearby training post, taking Thyzandros in her right hand and quickly sweeping it left. There was an almost overly dramatic pause before the three posts fell in half.

"That was amazing! I shouldn't if you're going to use him, but now I'm the one wanting a spar!" Tenten exclaimed, eyes shining while she studied Thyzandros.

"Well you're cute enough to get one outta me, but unfortunately Thyzandros would cut you right in half with even a gently stroke; I've had him tear through steel like tissue paper." Lysylta almost pouted at the end; she hated letting a cute girl down.

"A pity." Tenten replied shaking her head. "So… it's _enchanted_?" The word came out with interest, though not without some level of disbelief.

"Yeah, seventh level enchantment with a Vorpal Brand; I know that probably doesn't mean much to you, but it basically means that he'll alter his path and fight with a will of his own to hit the target, as well as inflict more damage in a single strike than otherwise possible for the same strike from a similar, but unenchanted, weapon." Lysylta explained, leaning on her scythe as she slipped into lecture mode for a moment. "Of course, there are a plethora of enchantments and it all depends on your style and what you want each strike to accomplish. Flaming axes, arrows that never miss, a sword that focuses light into deadly beams; you name it and it can be enchanted to do just that."

"So you can make these things?" Tenten asked, excited and fascinated by the prospect. If she hadn't seen Thyzandros fly through the thick wood in a single swing, without a stutter, she might not have believed Lysylta's words. Seeing as Tenten had indeed witnessed the display, Lysylta was currently the center of her attention.

"I… technically no. I can do the enchantments, but some things require you to enchant during the forging process; my brother is the smith, not me. I can match most of his enchantments, but his are far harder to dispel due to being bound in the metal." Lysylta explained, tapping the ground with Thyzandros' shaft and dispelling the scythe. "So I can enchant something that's already been made, but exceedingly powerful enchantments need to be implemented during creation instead of after. Things like being healed whenever you cause an opponent harm with your blade."

"Are only sharp weapons capable of enchantment then? All you've said is blade."

"Oh, no that's just personal preference speaking; I can enchant blunt objects too. Hell, I could technically enchant a spoon if I wanted too." Lysylta explained, glad for someone willing to listen. "Armor and clothes are also capable of bearing enchantments, as well as jewelry. The only real limit is the amount of energy the enchanter has and their imagination."

"What about things like buildings?"

"That's a different… well, all the materials have to be enchanted for a building to be enchanted, so it's definitely a "before" kind of thing. To be honest though, I think that would be pretty time consuming and not a great payout when you could just use a magic circle to protect an area. Of course, animating an object can count as an enchantment."

"Where did you learn to do all this?"

"From a wise old wolf with too much free time, in another world were people use magic instead of jutsu; I'll take you there sometime, show you my favorite parts of the woods and have a little date."

"Another world? Alright, I'll roll with the enchantment thing, but that's a bit much." Tenten cut in, giving the witch a look. Lysylta just laughed in response, smiling.

"I'll save that for another night then. Do you have any questions about enchanting?"

"A few, like… wait, where did Lee, Neji, and Gai-sensei go?" Tenten blinked a couple of times before staring at the spot they had been a moment before. Lysylta giggled, covering her fangs with her hand.

"They left a minute ago, saying something about an early dinner." She replied, restraining another laugh at the sight of Tenten's face going from dumbfounded to furious in such a short time. "Don't worry about it; I'm getting a bit peckish, so why don't we go grab some food and keep talking about enchantments? It's nice to see someone interested in magic."

"Really trying hard for that date, aren't we?" Tenten joked, trying to hide her smile as the two of them started towards town. "I'm flattered."

"I must say, you're taking my flirting better than anyone else I've spoken to today." Lysylta let out a brief, crystalline laugh when Tenten feigned hurt.

"You've been flirting with other women? And just when I was starting to think we were soul mates too…" She fell to her knees, dramatically clutching at her heart. She took Lysylta's hand when it was offered to help her up.

"You know, I'm actually a lesbian; I didn't just say that to shake the green goblin off." She hid it well, but Lysylta could see the slight tinge of red to Tenten's cheeks, even if her expression hardly changed.

"Well I figured it was either that or you were just trying to play gay chicken with me."

"Didn't think I was actually hitting on you, didja?" Lysylta winked, getting a laugh from Tenten as she scratched her cheek sheepishly.

"Not really, that's why I rolled with it. I mean, it doesn't bother me, I have left the village before; I know that homosexuality is a thing. Here too, I mean, but just not a big thing."

Lysylta just nodded, wondering why she felt the need to speak so quickly about it. It didn't quite seem quite like an apology, though she couldn't think of what else it could be save for a hasty explanation to save face.

"So am I still taking you on a date or is this just going to be a discussion over food?" Lysylta teased, laughing along Tenten. "I'm glad that you like to laugh; I swear humans don't laugh enough. Always too nervous or too serious."

"I try to take life in stride; I get a lot of shit for being a weapon user and a kunoichi… neither aspect gets that much respect from the ninja community. Both have obviously proven useful and competent time and time again, but you know how people are." Tenten explained, getting a nod that made the curled top of Lysylta's hat bounce. "So in response to the negativity, I try to stay positive and in a good mood; I take my training seriously, but being serious all the time kinda takes the fun out of everything."

"I know how you feel; my father was very… serious. I really don't know if I ever heard him actually laugh at anything like that. I mean I learned a lot from him, but his attitude sucked the fun out of accomplishments sometimes." Lysylta waved her hand in the air as if dismissing the thought. "Of course, that doesn't change the fact I can throw lightning around like candy at a parade."

"I heard about that; Neji, Lee and I opted to train that day while Gai-sensei went to test you. If we knew it was more of a gathering we would have come too; I heard you went straight through a tree with a swing. If that weren't reason enough to come, I heard you gave Hatake-san a rough fight too; something about throwing lightning around like it was nothing."

"Hey hey, you're gonna make me blush!" Lysylta complained, smiling at the praise, "Such a cute girl praising me too! It's amazing my cheeks aren't alight!"

Tenten's response was a hearty laugh, like she was amused by the witch's teasing.

"So do you have any idea where we're going or are we just wandering?" Tenten asked, smiling wryly at how obvious it was that Lysylta was lost.

"Sometimes wandering is fun; are you saying that you don't like my company? And here I was starting to think we had something!"

Tenten laughed as Lysylta fell to her knees and mimicked Tenten's earlier joke, clutching at her heart. She popped up after a moment though, smile wide and eyes laughing.

"If we take a left up here we'll get to a nice little ramen stand; not the grandest of meals, but they serve good food there."

"I'm glad I found you; I think my evening would have been terribly dull otherwise." Lysylta tipped her massive hat to the kunoichi. "People don't normally get so friendly so quickly though; are you just trying to sleep with me?"

Tenten waved off the idea, savoring the silence for a moment before she responded.

"You can tell a lot about someone from how they dress or how they carry themselves, or at least some people can; I'm not great at either, but I know what certain things mean when someone holds a weapon. It's a bit hard to put into words, but you hold Thyzandros the right way, at least in my opinion."

"And what way would that be?"

"Like a friend more than a weapon. The way you swing said a lot about how much you practiced; not many people can swing two-handed weapons with a single arm and keep the swing elegant and smooth. You understand your balance and how it affects and is affected by Thyzandros' balance, not to mention his reach and how much power to put behind the swing to cut what you're going to cut." Tenten paused for a moment, trying to find words to a potentially poetic ideal, but soon shook the thought from her mind, continuing with her praise, "You could probably catch me with the crux of the blade and not cut me at all."

"It almost sounds like you're implying something Tenten." Lysylta remarked as they rounded the corner. Tenten pointed out the stand—a fair sized establishment that looked more like a sort of open-air bar with a canvas flap reading "Ichiraku"—before she answered.

"It takes a lot more than a few years to learn that. More than a decade, I'd say." It was offhanded enough, though Lysylta immediately realized the underlying question. "You look a lot younger than you should if you can use a scythe like that."

"So you're asking me how old I am."

"I have a curious mind." Tenten replied, giving an apologetic shrug as they ducked under the flaps and walked sat down at the counter. "What do you want to eat?"

Lysylta scanned the menu hanging on the back wall, deciding on the meatiest bowl that she saw and communicating as much to Tenten, who just laughed and ordered the same on a whim.

"I'm fifty, by the way." Lysylta remarked as the cook turned his back to make the food. Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I admire Lady Tsunade too, but you don't need to go that far."

"I didn't really expect you to believe me, but you can go ask Tsunade for yourself if you don't believe me. I'm not human, if the ears and tail didn't tip you off; fifty is still pretty damn young for me, thank you very much."

"Ears? Aren't those just parts of your hat?" Lysylta's response was to take off her hat and make it vanish, letting her ears twitch and swivel to stretch a bit while making her point. Tenten's mouth hung open just a hair, prompting Lysylta to reach over and tap her chin up just firmly enough to let her know. "The tail too?"

"Yes, the tail too." Lysylta laughed, swishing the fluffy appendage to prove the point. "We were talking about magic and enchantments a while ago, yet this comes as a surprise?"

"Err, sorry… You're kind of a lot to take in."

"Apparently. I have a feeling this is going to get less amusing and more annoying every time I have to wait for someone to come to grips with it." Lysylta sighed, "So go ahead and ask. I know it's bothering you."

"What are you exactly?"

"Lycanthropic Fae. Specifically, I am Eladrin who has the Werefox strain of Lycanthropy; professionally speaking I'm a Sorceress who is a little too fond of lightning." There was a moment where Lysylta didn't recall that her explanation would make little sense, though it passed quickly enough. "Consider me an elf, if that's a more familiar word."

"And instead of turning into a wolf… you turn into a fox on full moons?"

"Full moons and tax holidays, yes."

"I take it telling when you're serious is an acquired skill?" Tenten asked, stomach growling a moment later and causing her to blush.

"Someone's hungry." The witch took a moment to enjoy the scent of her meal being cooked; this was looking to be a delicious smell if the taste could keep up with the smell. "But I am too, so I won't poke too much fun. And yes, it is an acquired skill."

"How about you go back to talking about enchantments so I can forget that I was getting hit on by someone old enough to be my grandmother?" Tenten stuck her tongue out when Lysylta gave her a look, leaving the lycan to laugh for a moment.

"Like I said before, for an Eladrin I'm still very young. Though I look a little off even then; my werefox blood made me grow faster, so technically speaking I should be a lot smaller."

"Well you're not that big to begin with." Tenten snickered when the witch's ears shot up and she looked indignant for a moment. She was only about a few inches taller than Tenten, who was about average, so she must have come from a tall family if her height bugged her.

"We're talking about enchantments now… and you're paying for my food for that jab."

"Aww… that's just cold."

"Cold, excellent place to start; thank you."

"Wait, what?"

Lysylta grabbed a pair of chop sticks and reached into her coat, pulling out a folded sheet of paper and what looked to be white powder. Tenten watched as she unfolded the paper, using the chopsticks to help smooth it out before pouring some of the powder onto the parchment. There was a light glow coming from it that vaguely looked like a circle and some odd shapes, though Tenten couldn't look long before Lysylta was waving her hand in her face.

"Give me one of those…what are they called… kunai? Give me a kunai and I'll enchant it for you; first level enchantment, with a Frost Brand." Lysylta instructed, giving a wink, "I normally charge, but I think you'll be a repeat customer if I give you the first one free."

"I get the kunai back right?"

Tenten reached into her pouch, pulling out a kunai and handing it to Lysylta without waiting for an answer; she had plenty of kunai anyway, and she was too interested in what Lysylta was doing to be particularly worried about the single kunai.

It was apparently a simple process; Lysylta laid the kunai across the paper, pressing her hands flat against the wide sheet on either side of the kunai. Tenten missed whatever the witch muttered, but there was a brief flash of blue light that seemed to consume the paper, leaving behind nothing but a light blue sheen on the kunai's blade.

"And there you go." Lysylta smugly remarked, handing the blade back and restraining her laugh when Tenten jumped from how cold the pommel was. "Be careful not to touch the metal too much; it'll leave frost on your skin and actually freeze the flesh it cuts; the handle is fine though. The enchantment won't do much for accuracy, but it'll ignore some wind resistance and cut better than normal."

"Well if I'm paying you had better eat quick; I want to get back and test this baby out if it's supposed to be so good." Tenten eyed the blade, noting that it did suddenly have part of the unnatural sheen that Thyzandros did, though not nearly to the same degree. In the hot air in the stand though, the blade seemed to almost steam.

As if on cue a bowl was placed before both of them; Tenten handed the chef the money for the food before breaking her chopsticks and digging in. It was a fairly cheap meal so Tenten didn't really mind, though she noticed Lysylta looking a little concerned.

"Tenten, may I ask you a question?"

"Ask me after we eat; I want to get back ASAP."

"But... how are you supposed to hold chopsticks?"

-¤҈¤-

* * *

And we're going to call this the end of chapter 3. Eyup.

That said, let me know if there was something you didn't understand and I'll try to explain. The girls might seem a bit out of character, but I decided to write them this way because I couldn't justify not doing it. Everyone is basically going to be friendly in Konoha; not for the whole story, of course, but Lysylta comes on as being very friendly and open, so it's hard not to respond in kind when you first meet her. Unless you're Danzo.

Nobody likes Danzo. I'm sure that's a rule somewhere.

I'm pretty much open to suggestions in terms of who Lysylta will end up with; I had an old poll about it but I think I'll just go with what I feel, you know? Still, if you have an idea for a pairing and you think I might not have considered it, go ahead and let me know; just make sure to explain why you think it could work, and remember that there's a strict "No Boys Allowed" policy.

Anyway, goodnight, my Freaky Darlings!


	4. The Fox and the Flowers

Past Hector: Started this chapter right after finishing the last one, my most Freaky of Darlings! So… yeah, it probably won't be done anytime soon. Well, obviously you're reading it now, but still. It's been a while.

Current Hector: It's been a while indeed. Today is my birthday… that… that is a hell of a time gap. Alright, I guess this chapter is supposed to be an anniversary celebration-chapter thing for me managing to make 20 trips around the sun.

Future Hector: I'M OLD AS SHIT AND ANGRY AS HELL!

Current Hector: This isn't Trollian, get the hell out of here Future me.

(5 points for those of you who got the blatant reference)

* * *

Lysylta eyed her guest with curiosity, wondering if he had given up on making this seem like a purely friendly visit; even sending his guards away didn't do much to liven the mood.

"Tell me, Hiashi…" Lysylta started, cutting the man off in the middle of a comment about her place of residence. "Why did you come here?"

"Is it so difficult to believe that I see potential in you, and thusly wish to ensure we are allies?" Hiashi countered, calm and composed as ever. Then again, as professional as he was, the man couldn't help but sound like a father using simple logic to a child. "Tea seems like a good starting place that stands in the neutral ground of the culture gap I've heard you complain of."

"I have no difficulty in believing that is part of this visit, but you've already made this clear; I was thus asking about the other reason you are here." Lysylta pressed, lacing her fingers and giving an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry if you were going to be dramatic about it, but I hate not knowing things."

Hiashi didn't respond at first, instead taking a sip from his cup of tea. He seemed to ponder the flavor for a moment before his eyes opened and met with Lysylta's.

"Tell me, are you the kind of person that cares about politics or appearances?"

"Not particularly; if something greater than myself is at stake then I will show an interest, but I don't have the time to pay heed to things as inconsequential as politics."

"And your opinion on appearances?" It was a very leisurely conversation that was taking place, despite how uncomfortable someone would be in the same room as the two of them.

"A witch should always look her best." Lysylta replied simply.

"Indeed, as should anything or anyone that is frequently under observation." Hiashi took another casual sip of his tea. "My clan is obviously such a thing that must be observed; our Byakugan is quite powerful, and we're a strong part of Konaha's military. We are watched both for our safety and Konaha's, but this observation has been boiled down to appearances for some; we must adhere to the status quo to retain respect, and thus power."

"The status quo has a dazzling song, from what I hear."

"Indeed it does. Ultimately, it comes down to myself and the Hyuuga Elders to keep my clan in order; this means upholding the expectations of a Hyuuga in public, as well as keeping our hands out of potentially dangerous situations."

"Which raises the question of why you're here."

"You are not a dangerous situation at the moment, but you have the potential to facilitate one. Specifically, one regarding my daughter."

"Ah, that would explain this visit." Lysylta muttered to herself, fully aware that it was loud enough for Hiashi to hear. He either didn't care or didn't pay attention as he took another calm sip.

"I am glad that I have been the kind of father who she feels she may talk to, but there are certain limits to that joy based on her questions. I will spare you the specifics of our talk, but she was very curious about whether or not it was alright for two women to have relations; it's not a common practice in Konaha, as I'm sure people have been telling you for two weeks." Hiashi took in Lysylta's expression, somewhat impressed by her bemused poker face. "Now then, she didn't go into great detail herself, but it came to light that you were the source of these questions."

"I'm flattered she thinks of me that way."

"I trust you already know the main issue at hand."

Lysylta sat up a bit straighter as she stretched, rubbing a sore spot on her neck that had been there since she had woken up. She wasn't particularly scared or nervous; Hiashi's intent wasn't to intimidate her, regardless.

"Hinata is the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan; if it comes to the public's attention that she enjoys the company of other women, there will be a potential backlash that would damage your clan's reputation and disrupt its position within the no-doubt perilous political arena of Konaha." Lysylta finally responded, absentmindedly stirring her tea; Hiashi raised a brow as the spoon spun the liquid around, following the motions of Lysylta's finger even though she wasn't touching it. "Of course, that is just the damage it could do to your clan as a whole. She would still face issues all her own because of it."

"Even if Hinata were to pass her mantle to Hanabi, my youngest daughter, her choices would still reflect upon the clan heavily as my daughter." Hiashi gauged Lysylta's reaction, failing to see even a slight shift in her expression.

"And what of Hinata herself?"

"I cannot say that I would be able to bring myself to take action beyond verbal reprimand; the Elders, however, would hold more power than myself in such a scenario; banishment from the clan following the application of the Caged Bird seal would be the kindest thing they do."

"Caged Bird seal?"

This was the first time Hiashi had heard her voice change through the entirety of their conversation; what emotions it conveyed had escaped him though.

"It is not a practice I am fond of but one that, like many things in Konaha, are enforced almost as law if only because they are old traditions. It is a seal applied to the forehead of the Branch house of the Hyuuga clan, which can be used to cause the bearer intense pain or even kill them if need be. It is used to control the Branch house. It also prevents the removal of the Byakugan, making sure that it stays within Konaha."

There was a time of silence as Lysylta stopped her stirring, taking the tea and sipping lightly. Just before the lack of noise became overly unnerving, the witch spoke.

"I do not believe it would be wise for them to pursue such a route. My own interests in Hinata aside, I do not think I could stand idly by while such a thing happened." It was said both slowly and calmly, a certain serenity to the words that made them all the more threatening. "And what are your feelings about this, Hiashi?"

"I believe that has been explained."

"No, Hiashi Hyuuga, the Clan Head of the Hyuuga has been explaining the political situation to me. I want Hiashi, Father of Hinata and Hanabi Hyuuga, to explain his opinion in this." Lysylta repeated, knowing full well that Hiashi had understood her the first time.

"My personal feelings have little place in this matter."

"But that does not mean they are any less significant."

"Perhaps." Hiashi reached over and took the teapot, tipping it with almost mechanical precision for the gentle stream of tea to fall to his cup. "What would you have me say? That I would support my daughter against tradition and risk a collapse in my clan?"

"I would imagine a father saying that."

The flinch was minor, though the falling tea made it all the more noticeable. There was a pause as he set down the pot and made a few handsigns. Apparently it was to silence the room, based on what her wards told her.

"…In some ways it makes me happy; I remember being a younger man, thinking of almost nothing but women. I worried that, when Hinata hit that age, something foolish would be done and she would be with child before her life had really started, or worse." Hiashi shook his head, clearing it of memories before he rambled. "Women could hurt her as badly as a man could of course, but there are no accidental children when two women lay with each other, no matter how reckless they are."

"And myself?"

"I know you as well as anyone who has asked me for my daughter's hand, and though you've yet to do so the principle still stands. As a father I wish only for the happiness and safety of my children, and I don't know if Hinata can find either in you or any woman. Who am I to call this anything but a phase, or disregard it a phase if it is truly how she is?"

"You're only human, either way." Lysylta looked distant for a moment, staring into her tea like she had found long lost memories within the amber depths. "I don't think that's for either of us to decide though; some things simply are, whether or not we understand them. The inner workings of my family are one of those things, for instance."

"Speaking of your family, The Queen's Right is something else I wanted to remark on, while I am speaking as a father."

Lysylta let out a listless chuckle, shaking her head and seeming to lose some of her youthful energy for a moment.

"I am not looking for trophy wives, Hiashi; if I decide to pursue a relationship, it is for the same reason countless knights have fallen to wicked beasts guarding fair princesses. I am truthfully not sure how I feel about having the Right; some days I am repulsed by the concept of splitting my affections, others I find myself understanding that love is not a quantifiable or finite thing. I find myself pulled in multiple directions regardless of the day, I suppose."

"Tell me, Lysylta, what are your feelings about this since you have pried mine forth, and seem so willing to talk?"

"…I believe it is ultimately her choice; no one but Hinata can decide her preferences." The witch locked eyes with Hiashi, surprising the man with the intensity of her gaze, "If anyone tries to punish her for exploring to find herself, or otherwise being true to herself, I assure you that they will have to go through me."

"Threats mean little to those drunk with power."

"Their sobering will be swift then. This is ultimately a matter for Hinata to decide upon; it has nothing to do with humans that time has left behind." Lysylta sat erect, reminding Haishi that she was as tall as most men in Konaha, yet somehow seemed to make herself much larger by the simplest changes in posture. "Though I may be the only Deth in Konaha, it does not mean I am alone in my ideals or my battles."

"You seem almost eager to come to blows."

"Perhaps it is just how I am." Lysylta's response was curt, reminding Hiashi that she was not human. It was difficult to keep in mind at points, but her logic and reasoning could be twisted compared to his, leaving her actions occasionally bewildering. "What has been said to Hinata?"

"I warned her about what was likely to come of it, and told her that no trouble would come of associating with you or being a friend to you. Anything more than that is asking for trouble from someone." Hiashi folded his arms, standing resolute under Lysylta's scrutiny as she considered his response. "What do _you_ intend to tell her?"

"That any relationship she chooses to have is her own business, and that I would be delighted if she found a place in her heart for me." Lysylta chuckled after a moment, smiling playfully, "Of course, I may have to let slip how amazing breasts are; she should definitely consider that before making any decisions."

-¤҈¤-

Hiashi had excused himself from the conversation shortly after, citing some matter that needed his attention at the clan compound. He had most likely been telling the truth, but Lysylta felt that part of it was Hiashi needing time to plan his actions from this point out; he was in a complicated situation, and he had to manage multiple interests at once.

All things considered the man was likely to be an ally; the whole of his clan might not end up being, but the two of them seemed to share similar values. If nothing else he seemed appreciative of the fact that Lysylta believed that this was Hinata's choice and that she wouldn't do anything unwanted.

The conversation had set Lysylta on a slightly more direct than she had been on prior, however. The issues of the Queen's Right and any relationships she wanted to pursue weren't things she wanted to leave brewing overly long.

She would endeavor to have some level of finesse, of course, but Tyro had taught her that if a problem arises the best solution is often a direct approach. Hinata was definitely her top priority at the moment given that morning's events, but Tenten was the next stop.

Lysylta almost faltered in her even gait at the thought; Tenten slightly confused her. There were times when Lysylta thought that the girl was coming on to her, and others when she was sure they were just friends with a mutual understanding of dedication. Her own feelings had been a little less fluctuating, though Lysylta did intend to leave it up to Tenten regarding how they proceeded. Again, the solution that she was going with was the direct route.

A certain level of care had been taken by the witch to arrive after Kurenai had left, entering from such a direction that the jounin would be none the wiser to her presence as she searched for Hinata. Lysylta had been visiting daily for about a week—having learned Kurenai's exit route in that time and visiting Tenten after spending an hour or so with Hinata—and had somehow managed to kiss the violet-haired girl on each occasion.

All things considered it was probably why the girl went home with questions.

"Boo." Lysylta whispered, making Hinata jump at the sudden sound from behind her. The quiet "Eep" she made drew the attention of her teammates, but they just offered half-hearted greetings and went back to their conversation; it was pretty clear at this point that the witch came to talk with Hinata, and trying to come into the conversation was difficult enough and hardly worth the effort with how quickly one was kicked out.

"L-lysylta-chan, you sh-shouldn't scare p-people like that." Hinata turned, flushed but smiling lightly as she tried to scold the witch. Lysylta prepared to overdramatically clutch at her heart as though wounded, but her purpose in coming her today changed her mind.

"Hinata, would you mind coming with me for a bit? We need to talk about something." Lysylta let her tone be serious for a moment, catching the Hyuuga off guard considering how relaxed and playful the lycan generally was. "This is a bit private; would you be willing to come to the trees?"

"I-I…uh, Su-sure."

"If either of you try to listen, I will personally transmute your genitals into Shock Lizards and leave them fused to you." Lysylta warned, eyes flashing for a moment. Kiba raised his hands in surrender while Shino shuddered slightly; neither knew what a Shock Lizard was, but having one for a dick would probably rank high on the suck-o-meter. Or not at all, depending on what Suck-o-Meter you were using.

The two watch as Lysylta gently led Hinata off into the trees, a hand on the heiress's back guiding her despite the lack of resistance. When the witch was satisfied with the distance she turned and face Hinata, doing her best to keep her face even despite rolling a bit of the inside of her lips between her canines.

"What did y-you want to talk about?" Hinata asked, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice; aside from the day of the witch's aptitude test, Hinata couldn't recall seeing her expression as anything but relatively playful. Part of her was wondering if they were about to go beyond just kissing in the woods, but she tried to ignore that trail of thought before it got the better of her.

"I want to know what we're going to do."

"Do about wh-what?"

"Do I really have to answer that Hinata?"

There was a brief pause as the Heiress let her expression drop, seeming as though she stumbled upon a bad memory.

"I… my father spoke to you, didn't he?"

"Yes. I appreciated the warning, but to be perfectly honest I don't care about that; where I come from I'm more likely to catch shit about being a lycanthrope than being interested in women, and by "catch shit" I mean people would legitimately be trying to murder me." Lysylta added, feeling that it would help drive the point home. Still, that point wasn't the one she wanted to make at the moment, "That said, I want to know what you want. I would be a little sad if you wished to have me as nothing more than a friend, but I would not blame you for valuing peace in your life and I would recover."

"He said that it would cause a lot of trouble for my clan too."

"You are the Heiress; I can't change the facts, and I'm honestly unfamiliar enough with your culture to argue them. Still, whether or not we pursue this is your choice and I assure you that I will do everything in my power to make sure you are safe. If it were in my power to keep this from reflecting on your clan in a way they didn't like, I would do it as well if you asked."

"I…" Hinata managed to stumble through several syllables, trying to start a number of sentences and cutting herself short as she tried to assemble her thoughts.

"You can be blunt, if you need to be." Lysylta offered, wondering if the girl was too used to having to carefully word her sentences. Hinata shook her head, leaning back against the tree behind her while her hands busied themselves by wringing eachother.

"What do _y-you_ want?"

"I want a lot of things." Lysylta replied, sighing at her own vague answer. This was probably going to be the best chance to bring the Queen's Right up. "I'll be more specific in a minute. Hinata, before you decide I need to tell you something that complicates this situation further. Has anyone told you that I have something called the Queen's Right, or what it means?"

"N-no, what i-is it?"

Here it goes…

"I'm the only Werefox in the Deth Pack; Due to that and a couple other factors I qualified for the right to have multiple partners. It's not something I _have_ to use, but my family will most likely expect it of me. Not only that, but if we were together then there are two other factors that you should put thought into. The first is simple: If I enter a relationship like this, it's because I have the intent to marry by the end of it. I don't do flings."

Hinata nodded slowly, taking this in. She seemed oddly unfazed by the Queen's Right, which would have been a good thing had Lysylta not been unsure of how to interpret that.

"The o-other?"

"It relates to the first; I'm going to outlive you by several centuries at least. I'd have to pass on Lycanthropy to you at some point if we want to remain together for more than a century. There are perks to it, of course, but abandoning one's right to call themselves human is not something done lightly."

Hinata let the information sink in, thoughts swirling behind closed eyes as she tried to pull a coherent sentence from the maelstrom.

"I… Don't even really know if I like women like that… like this…" Hinata started, her words even and slow enough to avoid a stutter. "But I do like you; I've been told not to say love lightly, but I think that it's what this will turn into with just a little time."

Lysylta smiled, pleased by her answer. The witch reeled herself in before she got too giddy, reminding herself that it hadn't been a definite yes.

"And the complications?"

"I don't think I could do f-flings either. I guess… the other part is something that we'd have to deal with later." Hinata looked at Lysylta to see if her statement about there being time left was true; getting a nod, she continued, "The… this is going t-to sound terrible. Th-there's always been a chance H-hanabi and I might marry the same man, so I've… it's not a… I've thought about it."

"And?" This was fairly important after all.

"Who else?"

It took a moment for Lysylta to register the question, having been expecting a direct answer.

"That… is a matter of debate at the moment. Tenten Mizuhara possibly, but I'm not entirely sure of her feelings towards me; I was going to find her after I spoke with you. I don't think there's anyone else in Konoha that I'm really taken with, or that's taken with me."

"T-tenten?" Hinata seemed a bit surprised, more color flooding her already bright cheeks; apparently the two knew each other. There was a pregnant pause before she spoke again. "Would you love me less if you had another… person?"

"No. I wouldn't love them less for having you either."

Hinata nodded, silently considering everything for a few minutes. She was glad that Lysylta was content to let her think; any pressure beyond what her own mind and heart were giving her might have made her faint.

"Can I su-summerize just so I kn-know for sure what you're asking?" There was a nod, and the Heiress went on, "You're… asking me to… M-marry you, basically? And become…like you, and share you w-with someone else?"

"I have an idea for the Queen's Right, but I don't know if it will make it any more appealing. The rest is..." Lysylta cut herself off from making the long-winded remark, smiling lightly, "Yes, Hinata. I'm basically asking you if you'd like to marry me and give up your humanity. You can… probably leave the relationship any time before the Lycanthropy part, but any damage that will be done will happen as soon as people figure out we're together."

"…Thank you. You…can leave me if I'm not what you want in a…wife. It's only fair if I can leave because of that."

Silence was almost becoming a third speaker in their conversation at this point, though the two of them ignored the non-existent words in favor of awkwardly staring at each other.

"That was basically a yes, right?"

Hinata let out a nervous giggle, feeling almost lightheaded; her chest certainly felt funny, and there were more than a few butterflies flapping about in her stomach.

"I-It was." She admitted, taking a hesitant step forward after a moment of thought, "I…think w-we're supposed t-to… y-you know…"

The girl was practically made of adorable in Lysylta's opinion, and the fact that she twiddled her fingers like that when she wasn't sure what to be doing with them only escalated her higher on the ladder in that regard.

The kiss was a bit different from the few they had shared over the week; it was slower, yet a bit more intimate as the two wrapped their arms around the other. It was short and sweet given that Lysylta begrudgingly pulled back before her hands started wandering, but it was still something she had savored on the same level as mastering a difficult spell; perhaps even moreso.

"I believe I said I would explain what I wanted earlier." Lysylta started with a smile, enjoying the fact they were still at least hugging each other. Hinata nodded, her face managing to stay a fairly consistent level of red; Lysylta could feel a bit of tension in the hug, but the girl was basically rebelling against a lot of things that would invariably bite her in the ass later. Simply put, the witch didn't blame her for the slight apprehension. "I want many things; power, my own castle, to leave behind more powerful magic than the generation before me, and I want company while I pursue those dreams. Company that I can spend my life with, that I can kiss and hold."

The girl relaxed a little, giving a still-red smile. Lysylta grinned back, keeping her hands on Hinata's sides in an attempt to cull the urge to wander.

"Do... do y-you mind if we g-go a little slow?" Hinata asked, looking down; she felt embarrassed for asking such a thing when they had already been kissing before any formal relationship. She really hoped that Lysylta's giggle wasn't directed at her.

"We can go at whatever speed you're comfortable with; I've got nothing but time Hinata." Lysylta replied with a grin, "I know that I said this was basically a proposal, but we're girlfriends until there's a formal wedding and that can be however far away it needs to be. The Lycanthropy can be postponed until you feel ready as well; we go at what pace you find comfortable."

"Thank you; it means a lot to me." Hinata smiled, leaning into the hug and resting her cheek over Lysylta's heart.

-¤҈¤-

"Can I have a day to think about this?" Tenten asked, sitting across from Lysylta and Hinata. This meeting had been a bit out of the blue, and Lysylta's directness had been a little… jarring.

In essence, Tenten had indeed been crushing on Lysylta; her own preference had long been for women, and the witch ended up fitting a bill that Tenten didn't know existed. Her plan had basically been to try and subtly court the lycan; needless to say, it had just been blown from the water.

"If you need the time, yes. I would like an answer soon though, if you could." Lysylta responded, hesitating for a moment before she continued, "There… is something I would like to suggest about the Queen's Right, since you're both here."

"What i-is it?" Hinata had been wondering since Lysylta had alluded to it earlier; the wait hadn't been long, but the suspense and speculation had been bothersome nonetheless.

"Right now, it's set up to be that I'm supposed to be the crux of the relationship; I doubt I'm going to take anyone other than you two into my heart, but the point is you'll both be connected to me. The issue is… well, first is an issue of jealousy; I promise I won't love either of you less because I have two wives and I'm not going to play favorites, but I won't always be able to balance time well. Beyond that it means if there's an issue with me then it could throw everything out of order."

"Making this sound like an amazing way to have a relationship." Tenten deadpanned, earning a poke to the forehead from some unseen force; presumably it was Lysylta's doing, given her smirk.

"I think it should be less like a tree, where I am the center of things, and more like a Web, where everyone is connected."

There was yet another silence as Lysylta's meaning sunk in. Tenten laughed and leaned back against the training post; she was glad that they were alone.

"So you want Hinata and me to date too?" She summarized, shaking her head with a smile of disbelief. "This is actually happening, right? I'm not just dreaming?"

"I assure you I'm quite real. What do you two think, though?" Lysylta's voice took on a sudden, nervous quality that made both girls snap their attention to the witch. There was a bit of color to her cheeks and the look of trepidation on her face seemed so foreign to her features it was almost unnatural. Needless to say, the two found her rather adorable in the moment.

"I…understand the reasoning." Tenten started, sighing, "I still want some time to think though; I mean, I'd be crazy to say no to such pretty ladies, but I want some time to figure out how this is going to work. At least for me, that is; I guess you two already had your thinking time."

"I und-derstand too." Hinata added, blushing a bit from Tenten's compliment. "And y-yeah, I… I've w-worked it o-out. It'll be a little w-weird at f-first, but like Lysylta s-said this is g-going to be a r-really l-long relationship; If we d-don't love each other a little, it might cause some issues later on." Hinata finished, stutter slipping from her speech near the end. "Besides, it m-might just happen on its own anyway."

"It might. I've never been in a relationship, but I've been told love make weird things happen." Lysylta remarked, continuing her train of throught before she could think better of it, "I've also heard orgasms can cause one's natural magic to do weird things to the room, but that's not really…umm…"

Lysylta had the decency to blush alongside Hinata and Tenten, though she had the privilege of pulling the rim of her hat down to hide her face.

"So, is there anything else I need to know?" Tenten asked, trying to keep her head clear of what Lysylta would look like during the throes of passion. Then again, the door was basically open for her to pursue those thoughts now.

"Y-you should kiss her." Both the kunoichi and the witch turned their heads to give a questioning look to the Hyuuga that had spoken, causing the girl to blush an even deeper red while she fiddled with her fingers. "L-Lysylta has kissed m-me a few times… so s-she should kiss you t-too."

"I… am okay with this if you are Tenten." Lysylta let go of her hat, cheeks still alight. Her tone of confidence was still there, but it was softer; trying to give Tenten the chance to refuse if she wanted to.

"No tongue; I think I can handle a normal kiss though, if you'd like." Tenten did her best to be a bit sexy with the last part, motioning the lycan over with a finger.

It was odd seeing someone move so gracefully on all fours, though Lysylta manage to make the movements natural and almost predatory as she closed the gap with a sultry smile. Hinata watched as their lips met and held for a moment as they both leaned into the kiss, wondering if that what it looked like when Lysylta kissed her.

There was a slight pang of jealousy, which she had expected, but she trusted Lysylta. The pang aside, this was actually pretty hot to watch. The surprising part came when Tenten made the same "come here" gesture towards her when Lysylta pulled back.

"W-what?"

"We're supposed to be even, right? Get over here and kiss me." Tenten beckoned, smiling welcomingly and hoping that it wasn't apparent how fast her heart was beating and how nervous her own request had made her. Hinata flushed, looking to Lysylta for some sort of input.

"She has a point; I mean, if you're comfortable doing that right now." Lysylta scratched her cheek sheepishly, a bit more color coming back to her cheeks, "Of course, it'd be kinda hot if you did."

"You don't have to, but I have to say I've thought about kissing you more than once Hinata-chan." Tenten added with a wink, reminding the Hyuuga that both Tenten and Lysylta had been seated in their preferences a lot longer than she had.

It was less of a crawl and more of an awkward scoot along the ground, but Hinata soon rested beside Tenten.

Lysylta watched as the two kissed, reveling in slight disbelief as she watched the two lock lips; this was something she had been wanted to see in person for quite some time. Not the two of them specifically, of course, but now it was just icing on the "Two-women-are-kissing-in-front-of-me" cake.

"I th-think that I'm going to e-enjoy this relationship." Hinata smiled, blushing alongside her company.

"W-well, I still want to take a day. Just to get my head straight." Tenten reminded, stuttering for just a moment.

The two kunoichi jumped slightly when Lysylta sprang to her feet, lashing out with her arm and grabbing the air before jerking the appendage back. Were it not for the scream of surprise and the shinobi skidding along the ground towards them, they might have bothered to ask what she was doing. They sprang up in record time; Tenten with a kunai in one hand and the other over her scroll pouch, Hinata slipping into the stance for the Gentle Fist and activating her Byakugan.

The man's momentum was canceled by Lysylta's foot planting itself on her chest and pinning him to the ground; invisible threads forged of her mana bound the shinobi's hands, fingers, and feet to the ground as well.

"You've got ten seconds to explain why you were spying on us before I start up an experiment to see how quickly a liter of water from Hell will burn through you." Lysylta's voice came out as cold as ice, the air crackling around her as she increased the pressure on his chest.

"W-Wait! I'm member of Konoha, not an enemy spy!" The man frantically shouted, jerking his head to her bicep; a headband bearing Konoha's leaf was tied there, though the answer did little to appease the witch.

"Seven. Six."

"Lysylta-chan!" Hinata scolded in slight disbelief that this was the same woman she had kissed earlier. She reminded herself though, as Tenten was no doubt doing, that many people changed when they were dealing with potentially dangerous situations.

If nothing else Hinata's words stopped Lysylta's countdown, though she didn't let the man up.

"You haven't answered my question. I suggest you enlighten me before I decide to stop listening to Hinata."

"D-Don't hurt me! I was just heading back home and… well you don't just pass by a bunch of women sitting in a training field making out… err… don't hurt me _please_?"

Tenten and Hinata turned a bright red, the former about to at least kick the man in the head for being a pervert, but a crackling sound drew their attention to the lightning arcing between the fingers of Lysylta's hand.

"I'm going to make this very clear: If you lie to me again, I will kill you and tear the answers from your ghost."

The tone of finality was choking. The man swallowed, weighing his options; eventually, he took the path that might let him live.

"The Shinobi Council and the Hyuuga Elders assigned me to keep an eye on you and report your activities to them. I… look, I don't care what you do, but I think this sort of thing was part of why they asked me to OKAY THAT IS PAIN!"

"Lysylta…" Tenten said slowly, getting the lycan to look at her from the corner of her eye; she saw fury in the glance, possibly from both being lied to and spied on. "Not matter how messed up this is, he's still a leaf shinobi."

"…Where I'm from I'd have every right to show you exactly what your internal organs look like, but you're lucky that I'm in a budding relationship; I've heard ignoring what your partner is saying and disemboweling someone in front of her isn't the best way to start things here." Lysylta remarked, voice still icy as she removed her foot. "Leave before I change my mind, and tell your employers two things for me, got it?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" The man stayed on the ground, waiting for the messages.

"First, let them know that if any actions are taken against either of these fine ladies because of their relationship with me… well, let's just say I'm going to introduce people to Lycanthropic Diplomacy." Lysylta bared her fangs to make a point, her eyes flashing crimson for a brief moment as a sign of her heritage.

"O-of course! Wh-what's the second message?"

"Tell them to pay for your hospital bill and any medications you are prescribed; I'm fairly sure I at least cracked a rib and you're bleeding from being dragged over here."

"….o-okay."

The man slowly stood up, backing up slowly and disappearing after a tense few seconds.

"I'm sorry about that; I don't like being lied to or spied on." Lysylta apologized, sighing and shaking her head as she turned to face Hinata and Tenten. "It's probably a good thing you saw that though. I mean, I wouldn't ever be that way with either of you, but I can be a bit violent. Oh, no, not like that, I mean I'd never hurt you or anything—I mean, if you're into that then I guess, but I mean It can be hard to control. I mean, shit, I…uh…" Lysylta gave up, hanging her head and settling for a defeated "Well fuck" before looking up like Hinata and Tenten were about to pass righteous judgement on her.

"You're adorable when you're stumbling for words." Tenten laughed, flicking the Lycan on the forehead. "You've been doing your best to be kind and polite as hell around me this week; It's not like I expected you to be that way all the time. Plus I think he kinda deserved that all things considered; I guess this is part of those complications you mentioned though, right?"

"Yes. I have a feeling that the village will be trying to observe me for quite some time; the next time I decide that I don't appreciate it I'm going to…" Lysylta stopped herself from finishing her sentence, opting for an awkward laugh before pretending it hadn't happened, "Well, I have my house warded, so no one can set foot on the property without permission and you can't see anything through the windows; it'll look like the house is empty."

"What w-were you going to say?"

There was a brief silence before Lysylta replied, feigning a disarming smile.

"I really don't think you want me to tell you that." She had tried to sound cheery enough, but she was mentally kicking herself for starting the sentence at all; this world was significantly less violent than her home and if the constant looks were anything to go by her threats were seen as fairly horrific at best and excoriatingly inhumane at worse.

"Probably not, but now I'm too curious." Tenten shrugged, trying to smile a little wider. People weren't always who they tried to appear to be; Lysylta, as a rule of thumb apparently, had been doing her best to seem "human" for the two of them or kind at the very least. It wasn't overly hard to tell that between the detail she would describe some magic and the fiasco with the spy that she was a bit "rougher" than she cared to admit.

"…It was basically going to be a remark regarding finding out how long it would take a white-hot pebble to burn through a body after I make someone swallow it. Happy now?" Lysylta asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"That's not so bad, see?"

"Yeah, but the thing is I can actually _do_ that to someone." Lysylta reminded, thankfully managing to not mention that she _had_ done so before; it had taken roughly an hour. "Can we switch to a topic not involving my tendency to cite my ability to inflict pain on others?"

"U-uh… D-do you think I s-should go home?" Hinata asked, having been waiting to ask the question. "H-he said the Hyuuga Elders…"

"Oh… shit. They would not like this whole arrangement, would they?" Tenten asked, biting her lip. She had totally forgotten Hinata's family was a part of this equation; Now that she thought about it her own parents were either ignoring her sexuality or were okay with it—though the latter seemed highly unlikely given some of her father's rants— but they weren't likely to take this well.

"You can both stay with me if anything happens." Lysylta offered, sighing, "I was hoping that this would take slightly longer to become an issue, but I suppose everything moves faster with humans. How… involved, do you want me to be with your clan Hinata?"

Hinata looked touched by the offers of housing, but she seemed slightly confused by Lysylta's question, prompting the Lycan to continue.

"What do you m-mean?" She asked, her head tilted slightly.

"Would you rather have me stay out of things as much as possible or do you want me hanging around a lot?"

"I…would you m-mind t-trying to stay c-close? I've heard…st-stories about this sort of th-thing."

Lysylta laughed; it started as a soft giggle before evolving into full blown hysteria. She stepped forward and, incorporating the action into her step to make it all a fluid motion, grabbed both girl and dragged them into a hug that ended up burying their faces in her breasts because of the height difference.

"You are adorable!" She shouted, still laughing; the two girls did their best not to flush a bright red at the embrace and both failed miserably. It only served as fuel to Lysylta's laughter when she let go and let them step back. "I don't think hovering around will help anything, but I have something just as good if you'd prefer."

Hinata watched Lysylta slip off her hat—reminding herself for the umpteenth time that the fox ears were real—and rummage through the apparently internally-huge article. Tenten would have raised a brow if she hadn't seen the woman stick her entire arm in before.

"What's th-this?" Hinata asked upon being handed what looked to be a tiny scroll of parchment; Lysylta handed one to Tenten as well before answering.

"It's basically a… well, a beacon of sorts; mana and chakra can activate scrolls the same way, so all you have to do is pump a bit of chakra into the scroll and it'll activate it." Lysylta explained, donning her hat and smiling as she went on, "Once they're active, I can either teleport to the scroll's location or teleport the scroll and its holder to me. Given the… ambiguity of that system though, I'll be teleporting to you. It can be for anything you want me present for, or if you need to get out of some place fast."

"That's pretty useful; I'd hate to drag you into something though…" Tenten trailed off as Lysylta shook her head.

"They're more intended for if anything goes wrong _in Konoha_; I don't think everyone is going to just roll over and leave us be, and you two might need the lifeline if things get bad. I'm offering a bit of faith that no one is going to attack you or anything like that, but if you find yourself being harassed or if you just need someone with you for something, use them." Lysylta explain, frowning slightly a moment later, "That being said, I'm always ready for combat and don't hesitate to use the scroll if you need backup for a fight. You two are dear to me and it would wound me to see any harm come to either of you."

"Thank you, Lysylta-chan." Hinata stepped forward and embraced the lycan, smiling. It was part of her nature not to want to bother her new girlfriend, but at the same time it was a huge relief to know that Lysylta could be there at a moment's notice. The heiress was slightly surprised when Tenten joined in the embrace, blushing a bit at the Hyuuga's questioning gaze.

"I… just thought I should get used to the whole group hug thing." She bashfully tried to pull back but Lysylta's arm kept her in for a few seconds before the embrace ended.

"This will be an odd balancing act; A relationship focused on one person is unhealthy, which is what the Queen's Right would make this out to be. That's why I wanted us to be more… open with each other; still, you two can have your own actions as much as I can. It doesn't always have to be a group thing if someone doesn't want it to be." Lysylta sighed and folded her arms, lips twitching down for a fraction of a second. "This is going to be complicated."

"Most relationships are; at least you two look like you'll be worth it." Tenten replied, getting a blush from both of her companions. "Alright, I'm going to head home before I get all mushy and try to wrap my head around this." There was a brief pause before she spoke again, "I…uh… thanks for talking to me about this; I was all set to make an ass out of myself."

"I'm sure it would have been adorable enough for me to let it slide." Lysylta smiled, trying to imagine what the girl had in mind. "But I won't keep you; go ahead and take some time to riddle this out."

"Thanks. I'll see you two tomorrow I guess."

Tenten lingered for a minute, unsure of whether or not she was supposed to say "I love you" or hug them before leaving; eventually she decided to just smile and leave, not entirely comfortable with doing anything more.

Lysylta turned to Hinata as the heiress let out a deflating sigh, raising an eyebrow.

"That w-was nerve w-wracking."

"Only a little; I was worried this was going to blow up in my face." Lysylta loosed a relieved chuckle, scratching her cheek sheepishly, "Truth be told I don't know much about human relationships or reasonable time-frames or pacing or anything like that; I don't know that much about relationships in general, now that I think about it."

"How d-do relationships work wh-where you're from?"

"All I know is that the Fae can court a prospective partner for decades if not a century or so before anything really begins." Lysylta explained, shrugging, "Lycanthropes tend to be pretty much the opposite; I'd say in most lycan relationships it's more like learning as you go. It's understandable given that Lycans are closer to animals than the mortal races; the courtship might be as complex as any other, but it's amazingly brief. I think the Alphas "courted" for about a day before Tyro turned and married her."

"That's… w-wow." Hinata's eyes were wide at the prospect; They had only been seeing each other for a week, but at least their conversations tended to forge a better understanding of the other person. "W-what did they do in that day?"

"I… don't remember all that well; The Alphas don't talk about the past much. I'm pretty sure that Tyro saved her life about three times, stopped a dragon from flattening an orphan, and then proceeded to literally turn an entire city to ash because of some idiotic war said city was trying to start. Pretty sure that sex was involved at some point too."

Hinata didn't have a response to that beyond her face turning a bit redder at the mention of sex. It was in that moment that she realized having a relationship with Lysylta meant sex would be involved.

She was going to, at some point, have sex with Lysylta.

Possibly Tenten too.

Or both at-

"Hinata, are you alright? You look a little distant." Lysylta pressed her hand to the girl's forehead, wondering if all the blushing was actually a sign of some human illness she didn't know about. She knew that the girl blushed a lot about silly things sometimes, but this had to be a record.

The witch wasn't entirely sure what Hinata said in response since the Japanese came out far too fast for her to understand, but it looked like Hinata realized that as well and composed herself enough to answer again.

"I-I'm f-fi-ine! Just a-a little h-hot out here!"

It was a terrible excuse, but hopefully one that Lysylta would buy; it was decently warm today, but the unbearable heat of summer aging into fall had passed a month ago.

"A little, I suppose." Lysylta shrugged, reminding herself that her own endurance for temperatures was different from even the most hardy of humans. In doing so she reminded herself that she needed to get home to check on the potion she had brewing however. "Hinata, I need to get back to my house and tend to a brew that I've been working on; I think you should go home and prepare for whatever may come of this, but keep that scroll handy. I'm going to do my best not to be busy for the next few weeks."

"…Thank you."

There was a lot more that went unsaid behind those two simple words. The embrace they shared was simple and short; their parting bittersweet.

It was only once the door to her study had closed behind her that Lysylta broke the calm façade and jumped in the air, excited elven flying from her lips faster than most would have been able to keep up with. She grabbed her journal and chronicled the day's events, controlling the quill with her magic while she tended to the brew.

It seemed that life amongst humans was about to become more exciting, if nothing else; the witch smiled at the prospect.

* * *

Well this one took forever. We're entering finals week here at Penn State, so don't expect much from me for a while. That being said, I'll probably end up doing 99% of a bunch of chapters, then leaving them alone for a month. Because I'm evil… or lazy. Probably lazy.

Anyway, Happy Holidays my freaky Darlings!


	5. The Fox and the Plan

Welcome back my most freaky of darlings!

"I have nothing relevant to say right now. By the time this gets posted Finals will be over; right now though it's the weekend before finals week." -Written the weekend before finals week.

It's now about a month into the spring semester. Writing plans?

* * *

"Congratulations, you're a Chunin now." Tsunade sarcastically praised, tossing the headband to Lysylta. The witch seemed to contemplate it for a moment before tearing the plate from the cloth and attaching it to her belt; magically, no doubt.

"It took you this long to decide on that?" Lysylta asked with a smile, almost laughing at Tsunade's groan.

"No, I had this done with a few hours after your test; Unfortunately for that plan, the council decided to play politics for a bit." Tsunade shook her head, making an expression of disgust, "I hate politics with a passion."

"The feeling is mutual. On the note of the council, how has that little book the Alpha gave you going?"

Tsunade shrugged, making it clear that she wasn't planning on discussing it.

"The council wants to meet with you, by the way. If I'm not mistaken it's about the whole Queen's Right thing; no doubt you're tired of talking about it though."

"Exceedingly; I reserve the right to throw lightning at anyone being overly… political." Lysylta's word choice gave Tsunade a chuckle, bringing the aging Kage to smile and shake her head again a moment later.

"Feel free; I think I have you figured out well enough for you to throw a bit of weight around, so to speak."

"Really now?" Lysylta questioned, the curl of her hat bobbing as she tilted her head slightly.

"It's not that difficult, if you'll excuse the wording." Tsunade started, lacing her fingers on the desk between them, "For whatever complicated thoughts or stratagem lay within that head of yours, or convoluted reasons that drive your actions, you act very simply because you have very straightforward goals. If you like being here, you'll stay here and protect Konoha; in that sense, you're also loyal to Konoha and myself given that I honestly don't care what you're doing as long as it's not detrimental to Konoha."

"I assure you that I don't care to deal with whatever consequences come with disturbing a ninja village in the more violent sense, but I suppose you've already got everything figured out far enough into the future to not worry about me blowing up the trade district." Lysylta gave her an oddly predatory smile, fangs gleaming in the light, "I won't stand for anyone trying to control me however; I know full well that a gifted necklace can easily be a golden chain. You have enough sense in your head to be wind in regards to me; you will push, but you will not grab."

"I would be cautious in the way you tell the council such; they have the potential to make life… difficult." Tsunade cautioned, referencing more how annoying they were than any physical trouble.

"I have the power to make life end, what a coincidence!" Lysylta's tone was far too chipper for what she had just said, prompting a question that had been a repeated visitor to Tsunade's mind of late.

"For all you reference it, do you revel in death?"

The question seemed to catch the witch off guard, silencing her smile and giving her a more serious demeanor.

"I've read your history books; even if there were many more wars and battles than were included in that telling, I assure you that this place is nowhere near close to the violence that stains my world. People kill and are killed because that is simply how the world is for us; rarely will a babe grow to and old man without some blood on his hands." Lysylta brought her hand up, motioning with her pointed nails to bring her next point around, "I have killed before, and I have no intention of stopping; I don't revel in pointless death, but there are a few factors you may have forgotten in your plans."

"And what would those be, pray tell?"

"Might makes right, first of all; the strongest have the right to rule because it is their duty to further the goals of their people. Strength is far from purely physical, but the point stands that you shouldn't go antagonizing someone who can reduce people to ash with a few words and a gesture or someone who can tear trees from the ground and beat you with them."

"There are ninja who can do just that, some on the council." Tsunade, wanting to see how Lysylta would respond to the information. The laugh should have been expected.

"You are the only one who can match me in raw physical strength here, and as far as I can tell there aren't many that can come close with elemental manipulation. Still, there is a factor that every human tries to ignore when dealing with Lycanthropes like myself."

"I have a feeling I'm not going to like where this ends." Tsunade deadpanned, raising a brow as Lysylta clapped.

"Exactly; you know what I'm going to say though, so I don't need to repeat it. Perhaps I've said it before and forgotten, or perhaps you just feel it when you meet my gaze." Lysylta shook her head, smiling a bit less disturbingly now, "But we shouldn't be sitting her debating on whether or not it is wise to antagonize me; they will try their hardest to leash me and I will respond as _energetically_ as they try."

"Lysylta, I would like to remind you that disintegrating council members is not an acceptable way to integrate into this society." Tsunade sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose. "If people come to your house to bother you, feel free to chase them off. If people show up for more violent purposes, do whatever you feel necessary. Do not, however, murder anyone in the council room. Now then, are you interested in taking a mission or are you planning on continuing searching for young women to woo?"

"Oh don't worry, I've found two." Lysylta replied, surprising the Kage.

"Seriously? _Two_?"

"Yes, and they're both okay with the Queen's Right. Kinda weird, actually; I was expecting more…well, revulsion or resistance. They took the whole "not a human" thing pretty well too." Lysylta pondered that for a moment before continuing, "Well, Tenten hasn't technically said yes yet, but she said she just wanted to sort everything out before she said anything; you know, in a "I'm going to say yes but let me figure out what just happened" way."

"Tenten? As in Mizuhara_, That _Tenten?"

"Yes, why?"

"I… did not expect her to swing that way. Perhaps it isn't my place to tell you this, but her parents aren't… they're going to be less than thrilled if they find out about you two."

"Why? Is it because I'm a Lycanthrope?"

"Think a little simpler than that, though it's probably going to be a factor." Tsunade sighed, leaning back into her chair; this had gone from serious to discussing the bullshit of Konoha. "They're part of the civilian council, since the Mizuhara family has always run the forge that produces a lot of our weaponry. They're also in the part of the council that's really against homosexual rights; marriage, etc. They're not as bad as some but they're going to flip some shit when they hear about this."

"I'm already prepared for shit to be flipped, Tsunade. Hinata already agreed to be my girlfriend too."

There was a moment of silence in the office before Tsunade shattered it with booming laughter.

"This may well be the funniest thing I'm going to see as Hokage; make sure these girls_ love_ you. I mean serious, fairy-tale level love, just so their stuck up families have to deal with that." She managed to say through the fits of laughter.

"I'm glad this is such a source of amusement for you." Lysylta smiled, wondering how much entertainment _she_ was going to get out of disrupting the status quo like this. "About that mission though…"

"Right, right." Tsunade waved it off, sitting up and calming herself down; the laughter ceased, though the smile didn't leave her face. "I doubt you want to waste your talents with D-ranks, but given your lack of history I can't assign anything bigger than a C-rank."

"Fair enough." Lysylta replied, wondering what sort of mundane task a D-rank would be. "Are there any C-ranks available?"

"One, but I want another week of recon before I assign it to anyone. There are rouge ninja that like to form "bandit" groups, and one such group is becoming particularly annoying. It's a mission to assassinate—and this can be as loud or as flashy as desired—the leader of this group and the three people directly under him. If the group doesn't tear itself apart, which it will try to, the other groups in the area will move in to try and take control of their territory; they all get weakened and spread out, and then we have to worry less about all of them."

"I see the point, but why not just take out all of them?"

"It's a large group, and we don't have the manpower to tackle something of that size anytime soon. Not while we keep accepting missions from other sources, that is. It's a solo mission as well, and sending one person against that many is foolish either way."

"With all due respect, I don't think it would be that hard to just get rid of them all. They're just humans."

There was a silence in the room that would have choked anyone fool enough to enter.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Tsunade's tone had lost all sense of joviality.

"Meaning I can kill all of them. Humans, for all their ambition and ability to adapt, don't inherently have any resilience or natural defenses. No offense."

"…If you think you can take more than required, do so, but I expect you to come back alive. Don't be so quick to write someone off because they're human."

"It's less writing them off and more knowing where they'll stand. I have one week to prepare, correct?" Lysylta asked, swirling her finger through the air; Tsunade watched expectantly as blue strands seemed to manifest and catch on the finger, only realizing after a minute had passed that Lysylta was just doing it to entertain herself.

"Yes, one week. On Wednesday I expect you back in my office if you want the mission. This is normally the point where I say "Dismissed", but I'm just going to go with "enjoy your week"." Tsunade deadpanned, rubbing her temples.

"I shall endeavor to do so; enjoy your day, Tsunade."

-¤҈¤-

"I've decided to say yes."

Tenten opted to follow her statement with a hug, feeling that a kiss wouldn't be quite right. Lysylta's embrace was soft and full of warmth, though nowhere near the level found in her smile.

The witch had actually stumbled upon the two of them—Hinata being the other—sitting at the same training ground they had been at two days prior. Apparently Tenten had wanted to talk to Hinata privately before she finalized her decision and Lysylta had simply managed to show up with fantastic timing.

The kunoichi blushed a bit at Hinata's giggle and clapping, stepping out of the embrace with an awkward smile.

"I'm glad you said yes." Lysylta said with a soft smile, the color in her cheeks doing little to diminish the glow about her.

"I'm glad as well. I've been thinking about this for a while now and I like it more and more as time goes on." Hinata admitted with a good deal of color to her cheeks. Her thoughts over the past few days had been more romantic than anything, but she would have been lying if she said that it had been totally chaste all the time.

"If I didn't know better I'd say that could be interpreted as being a little lewd." Lysylta teased, giggling when Hinata turned that shade of red that only she could manage while she fidgeted with her fingers. Tenten laughed too, knowing that she hadn't had exclusively pure thoughts either. "And you, Miss Mizuhara!"

"Wait, what did I do?" Tenten blinked, confused as to why she was getting a look from the witch.

"Don't think I didn't notice how close that hand of yours was to my tail!" She chastised, wagging a finger at the girl.

"No! I mean, o-oh hell is that bad?" Tenten stammered, preparing to unleash an apology worthy of myth until Lysylta's laughter cut her off. "You… you were messing with me, weren't you?"

"Yes and no." Lysylta managed to laugh out, calming herself enough to explain, "It's probably not fair to you two to leave you in the dark since I'm not human and you have no experience with people like me. Treat the base of my tail and my ears like you would my breasts." It was Tenten's turn to laugh as Lysylta turned red and stammered her next words out, "Not like that! I mean in terms of what you can touch right now! It's not really—well, I mean it could be sexual, but it's not like they're like boobs-level sexual!"

"And you said _I_ was cute when I was stammering." Hinata teased, using Lysylta's embarrassment to recover from her own.

"Hey now, double teaming isn't allowed!" Lysylta complained, making a sour face.

"I haven't done anything but laugh." Tenten countered, laughing again as Lysylta tried to come up with a retort.

Hinata watched happily as Lysylta and Tenten started bickering back and forth about what constituted ganging up on someone before moving on to accusing one another of being perverted; they were citing events that she hadn't been around for and quite frankly she wasn't paying as much attention to what they were saying as how they were saying everything. They were already acting like they had been together for a while.

It made her wonder if she looked like that with Lysylta as well. She supposed that Tenten and herself would be like that at some point, but she had to wonder how that would work out.

Lysylta was a flexible individual as well as one who had a great deal longer to come into herself as a person. Tenten brought out a more energetic, competitive side in her while Hinata knew that she elicited more of a relaxed, gentle aspect of Lysylta's personality.

Together, however, Hinata had no idea what would happen. Would she be more energetic to match Tenten, or would Tenten calm down to match her? I could just end up being a sort of middle-ground reaction, but then again time would be a better judge of what would happen than her idle musings.

Thinking back to Lysylta's age brought her to another trail of thought that she had been doing her best to avoid out of respect, though it was an often failed effort. Lysylta and Tenten, as she had learned, had both been set in their preferences for years whereas her relationship with them had been relatively sudden; they no doubt knew how women would go about having sex with one-another, or what one was supposed to find "sexy" about another woman.

Hinata wasn't totally clueless in either regard of course, but she could help but feel like she was the late one to the party so to speak. She aslo couldn't help but feel a little bit odd about looking at them in a sexual light; quick glances at their bodies made her feel like she was being a pervert, and prolonged "admiring" was too awkward for her to even consider. Part of her wondered if she could just ask the two of them how she was supposed to go about being a lesbian, but she figured that it was a stupid question with a simple answer that she was just over-thinking.

Part of the trepidation about asking was the fear of whatever they'd say in response; rationally she knew that they'd never say anything intentionally hurtful, but at the same time she didn't want them to think that she had no idea about how to function in this relationship. Then again she wasn't entirely sure she'd know how to function in a relationship with a guy either, so that might have been moot point regardless. All she really knew was that, if the awkward conversation with her father when she had started her period was anything to go by, she was supposed to avoid having sex until they had been in a relationship for a while or—if at all possible—hold off until marriage. She had to wonder if that still applied here, given that it wasn't like Tenten or Lysylta had the ability to knock her up if they fooled around.

"_Oh… we could do that. We're _going_ to do that at some point.",_ Hinata thought to herself, whatever blush that had faded coming back in full force. She knew that she shouldn't be making such a big deal about it, but every time that thought came to mind her heart skipped a beat for a moment. The mental image of both of them, naked, coming towards her with the intent to—

"Hinata, are you alright? You've been spaced out for like, 5 minutes." Tenten asked while waving a hand in front of the girl's face, snapping her back to reality.

"Iwasn'tthinkingaboutyoubeingnaked!"

"What? Speak slower, I can't understand you if you're shouting stuff so fast." Tenten sweatdropped, wondering what had the girl so tense.

"She said "I wasn't thinking about you naked", which I'm pretty sure means she was thinking about you naked." Lysylta explained, smiling wide. Hinata looked positively mortified while Tenten couldn't help but blush and give Hinata a surprised look. "Hey, I'd take it as a compliment."

"How… why would that be a compliment?"

"Maybe it's just my way of thinking about things, but everyone has perverted thoughts, right?" Lysylta asked, folding her arms like she was about to launch into some sort of scholarly discourse about it. She loosened her stance when silence followed her question , "Right?"

"Well, yeah, but blurting that out…?"

"If you snap someone out of a trail of though they tend to blurt things out; it's not that uncommon." Lysylta countered, "But the point is, everyone has perverted thoughts. Now then, of all the women she has met, knows, or has simply seen, Hinata was imagining _you_ instead of any of them."

Tenten and Hinata both turned a deeper shade of red by the end, avoiding eye contact with each other while Lysylta let out an amused giggle.

"I was thinking about you too, Lysylta-chan. N-nothing perverted or anything, for either of you! Just… uh, I was wondering about something and…" Hinata trailed off, her feeble volume fading into silence after her brain couldn't figure out how to continue her thought.

"I'm flattered." Lysylta replied, trying to ease the girls out of their tension with an earnest tone and a gentle smile. "Do you think about me too, Tenten?"

"It's a little early to be thinking about that, don't you think?" Tenten replied, folding her arms and looking away.

"Yes or no; this isn't about judging someone based on thoughts or anything like that. Its… I feel like this isn't something that your culture does, now that I think on it. I mean, I understand some of it, but you should really accept yourself and everything that comes with that; it's not unnatural or bad to think about people naked or think about sex." Lysylta explained, trying to make sure that her Japanese captured her thoughts; Elven would have been a much better language to explain this in. "I'm not going to make you admit anything if you don't want to, and I'm not saying that your way is bad, but it's part of my culture to share things like this so that you understand a person better from the beginning. I'm actually pretty glad Hinata's thinking like that, at least a little, if only because I was kind of worried that I might be the only one thinking about stuff like that."

"It's…look, it's complicated. This isn't my first relationship; I went over this a little with Hinata before you got here, but I'll elaborate if you want us to share so you know more." Tenten started, tone almost angry. She took a breath and calmed herself, folding her arms again and leaning against the training post beside her. "I'll spare you two the specifics that make this complicated, but basically I screwed things up with my first girlfriend because I went too fast and scared her off; I screwed the second relationship up because I went too slow. This is the third time I've been with someone, and not only do I have no idea what my pacing is going to be but I also have to adjust it for two different people, who are probably going to have two different speeds."

"Well…why don't we just talk about it then?", Lysylta and Tenten looked over at Hinata, who had spoken up in the silence after Tenten's minor rant. "I'm worried about things too; I've never been in a relationship at all, and I don't even really know what signs mean too fast or too slow or…anything, really. Lysylta keeps talking about the culture gap between us too, so I know that's a concern… maybe we should just sit down and talk about it instead of guessing?"

Tenten looked over at Lysylta, a little unsure of how to take the suggestion.

"Well… she has a point. I mean, I guess part of relationships is feeling things out but laying out some ground rules about what's okay and when wouldn't be bad." Lysylta remarked, blushing a little for not having thought of that herself. "I mean, worse come to worst we can at least decide to be open about… you know. Look, we can go back to my house and talk about this over some lunch."

"Can I opt out if it starts getting too awkward?" Tenten asked, blushing as she sighed in resignation.

"Of course." Hinata answered, cutting off Lysylta from saying the same thing. "We… should all only do what we're comfortable with, right?"

Lysylta smiled and nodded, repeating the nod to Tenten.

-¤҈¤-

"Is the whole house like this?" Hinata asked, tone awestruck at the various little wonders in the sitting room: floating plants with water cascading from one pot to another; a thin mist that clung to the ceiling that had several runes gentle glitter into existence before fading; walls lined with bookshelves bearing equal amounts of books and various crystals and other curiosities; and a fireplace with purple flames that danced without wood in a ring of runes in the hearth.

"More or less; magic is a wonderful tool for war and home decoration." Lysylta replied, sipping her tea as she made herself comfortable in her favorite chair. It was the first time Tenten and Hinata had seen her without her coat and hat for an extended period of time and both were having a few issues with not staring at her midriff or the tattoos on her arm. "My room and my study are a the most decorated rooms of the house, though in different ways; The study is set up to be as efficient as possible, and as such I hesitate to truly call anything in there decorations, whereas my room is… well, I'm sure you'll see it one day." Lysylta finished with a wink that brought color to the faces of both her guests.

"On that note…" Tenten stammered, trying not to think of what they'd be doing in Lysylta's room, "Why don't we start with that conversation?"

"This is a new thing for me." Lysylta immediately began, the suddenness almost startling them, "But I've told both of you this. My culture—which is to say that of the Deth pack, as I have not spent any great period of time among the fae—dictates a very fast courtship due to the fact Lycans in general have some rather…destructive impulses that have resulted in a number of organizations dedicated to killing us all. Long life is not something we are guaranteed, so a long courtship is meaningless to us. That having been said, I'm willing to accommodate either pace you two feel comfortable with since it would be difficult to go "too fast" with me."

"…Lysylta-chan, has anyone ever told you that you'd make a great lecturer?" Tenten asked, sweatdropping, "I swear it's your natural tone of voice."

"I have… yes, I've been told. Sorry about that." Lysylta blushed, staring down into her tea, "Alpha always taught us that if you cannot think of a way to say something, you should simply say it bluntly."

"I could see that getting people in trouble…"

"To be fair not a lot of people would argue with him; he is the Arch-mage of our world." Lysylta sweatdropped, "But that doesn't matter right now. The point is, I'll adjust to whatever pace you two want."

"Alright. You two have heard my bit about too slow and too fast, so if it's alright with you two I'd like to hear Hinata's plan before I go."

"M-me?" Hinata asked, surprised. "I… but I've never done anything like this either! My family is really strict about what sort of material is in the house too, so I've never even been able to read a romance novel or see a movie about this stuff. I was hoping you two would have a time frame that I could use."

"So we're three people waiting for someone else to make the first move so that we can adapt to it." Tenten sighed, leaning back into the sofa while Hinata shifted a bit uncomfortably on the loveseat. "I'm going to take a page from Lysylta's book and be blunt; after screwing up two relationships I'd feel too awkward being the one to throw anything out there."

"So it's down to me or Hinata to offer something up?" It was less of a question and more of a statement, though Lysylta looked like she was waiting for at least some kind of response. Eventually she gave up and sighed. "Are there stages to human romance?"

"Generally I've heard it split up into a few stages." Tenten offered, taking a drink before she continued, "It's probably not the best source of information, but I have a few civilian friends who call the various things "Bases"; they're like various levels of physical… intimacy. I think it's divided up more with the thought of straight couples in mind but I guess it works for us too if we wanted it too."

"Oh, I think I heard Kiba talking about that once!" Hinata cut in, glad she had at least heard reference to it.

"Really? What did he say?" Lysylta asked, curious.

"Something about a girl not letting him reach first base."

The two of them looked over to see Tenten covering her mouth in a failed attempt to keep her laughter contained.

"Oh Kami that is bad." She laughed, taking a minute to get herself together enough to explain. "Unless they're using a different scale, that means he didn't even get a kiss."

"So first base is kissing. That's not so bad." Lysylta remarked, levitating her tea to the table between them. "What are the others?"

"Well, it's kissing and making out as well from what I gathered." Tenten corrected, wondering if Lysylta could teach her to do something like that.

"Making out is… what, exactly?"

"You… it's… how do you not know this?"

"I'm a Werefox from another dimension; it's probably a thing I just have another word for."

"Right, I keep forgetting about that part. It's like… kissing with your tongue."

"My tongue? How in the name of the Elemental Chaos does that work?" Lysylta asked, the concept actually puzzling her. "Could you show me? If it's just kissing I won't mind."

There was a chasm of silence that made the witch consider if she had done something wrong. She watched Tenten look between herself and Hinata a few times before she responded.

"I… You want me to make out with you? That's seriously what you're asking me to do right now?"

"Yes. Is that bad by human standards?"

"Well… no, I guess, just a little weird. Then again I'm dating the Heiress of the Hyuuga clan and a Werefox from another dimension, so I guess any hope of normalcy got blown out of the water earlier." Tenten smiled, at the thought; it was nice to be in a relationship again, even if it had only been going on for an exceedingly short while. "Hinata, is it alright with you if I… uh… demonstrate?"

Hinata seemed to think about it for a moment, only looking back up after almost a minute had passed.

"I want to do it too. With both of you." It was almost surprising how clearly it had come out, despite how red Hinata's face was. She took a breath, trying to calm the frantic beating of her heart that only she and Lysylta could hear, "I don't really know what it is either though, so… if you don't mind… could you show me too?" The regal calm in her voice fluttered at the end, leaving Hinata with her normal meek tone. It had been an interesting look at what the girl was capable of though.

"I might… revoke the privilege after this." The weapon-mistress had to pause to find the word she wanted, though she quickly saw a way to recover from looking so embarrassed. Tenten let her lips form the most alluring smile she could while she let her eyes drift closed ever-so slightly. "Either way though, consider this a little teaser for things to come, alright?"

She beckoned Lysylta over with a single finger, doing her best to keep up what she hoped was a relatively sexy appearance.

"_Shaer byrn_, if you want it that way…" Lysylta smiled, standing and closing the gap in a single, fluid motion. Tenten was a little surprised to find herself with a lycan sitting sideways on her lap.

"Sh-shaer byrn?" Tenten stammered, her tone betraying how nervous she was. Lysylta laughed, smiling coyly.

"Let's exchange; show me what making out is and I'll tell you what _shaer byrn_ means." She teased as she traced a finger down Tenten's cheek until it rested under her chin, offering a smile that wiped all thoughts but those revolving around the witch from the kunoichi's mind. "Not bad for someone who hasn't even done that much kissing, neh?"

Tenten and Hinata would have face-vaulted in unison had Lysylta not been pinning the former down to the sofa.

"Next time you're acting like that, do me a favor and don't stop." Tenten deadpanned, getting a giggle from Lysylta.

"Duly noted. Now then, I believe you need to show me this "first base" thing."

"Close your eyes."

"Hmm? Why?" Lysylta poked at Tenten's shoulder, giving her a suspicious look and getting a laugh in return.

"It'll feel awkward if you're staring at me while we do this; trust me and close your eyes." She repeated, trying to steady her heart while Lysylta acquiesced to her request. "Don't bite me."

With a hand finding its way to the back of Lysylta's head, Tenten leaned in and pressed her lips to Lysylta's. She kept it basic at first, getting the witch into the flow of the kiss for a minute before she let her tongue slip forward; Lysylta froze for a second, but she didn't bite like Tenten had been worried about. There was a brief moment of contact between their tongues before Tenten pulled back, returning to regularly kissing her for a little.

The next time she chose to slide her tongue out Lysylta received her and reciprocated in kind. The witch had to admit that this was pleasant, if a little odd feeling; it made her feel closer to Tenten though, so she embraced this odd ritual. Like this she could taste the energy that flowed from the kunoichi's breath, the emotion and the feelings riding the wavelength came as well; such were the benefits of being so attuned to energy. Lysylta only regretted that Tenten wouldn't be able to experience this like she did.

"_That_ was making out." Tenten sighed happily, glad she had been talked into this.

"Well now."

"Well now what?"

"_Shaer byrn_ means _well now_ in your tongue." Lysylta explained, wiping a tiny bit of spit from her lip. "I try to speak Japanese for you two, but I spoke in Elven and Dragonic for years before this, so I slip now and then."

"I'll remind you to translate if it happens again then." Tenten smiled at the witch before she turned her gaze over to meet the eyes of the blushing Hyuuga on the couch. "I wasn't planning on making out with either of you until after a date or so, but I'm not complaining. Do you still want to do this Hinata?"

"I…I'm having second thoughts…", she bashfully admitted, fiddling with the hem of her jacket, "I-I mean, not that I don't want to but ImeannowthatI'veseenitIknowwhatitisandI-"

"Hinata, it's alright." Lysylta cut in, stopping the accelerating words before they became overly unintelligible, "We came here to talk about what we were comfortable with; it would be a little odd if you were forced into anything right now, right?"

"Y-yeah… sorry."

"No need to apologize. I think there should be a bit of time before I engage in that again anyway; I'm so attuned to energy that I get a lot more from that kiss than you'd think." Lysylta remarked as she stood, leaning down to kiss Tenten's forehead once she was free of her lap. "If it's intimate for you two, it's doubly so for me; I can practically taste emotion like that."

"Taste… emotion?" Tenten asked, a brow raised in skeptisim. She took a moment to remind herself that she had just been making out with a _witch_, however, and realized how silly it was to question something like that.

"I'll explain later, if you'd like. We still have some bases to cover, if I'm not mistaken?"

"What? Oh, the… right." Tenten slapped her forehead for having forgotten so quickly. She waited until Lysylta had taken her place back in her chair—which, being as large and brilliantly colored as it was, was almost enough to derail her thoughts again—before she began. "There're probably a few different variations on these, but we're going to with second base being… um… above the waist touching. Kami it's almost more awkward to try and find a different way to say it than just being blunt."

"You're welcome to be blunt." Lysylta offered, looking over to Hinata to confirm.

"Just to be clear, that means b-breasts, right?" The Hyuuga asked, bright red.

"You know, if you keep being that adorable when you blush we're going to have to keep making awkward situations to get you to keep it up." Tenten teased, winking at Lysylta. The witch laughed and nodded, stirring her tea by making the spoon follow her finger. "But yes Hinata, second base means that we're okay with each other playing with our boobs; A note for me though, it's more of a private thing. I'm not saying either of you would, but don't just go grabbing them whenever."

"Same." Hinata quickly agreed, both of them looking to Lysylta. The witch smiled behind her teacup, shaking her head like something was amusingly silly.

"If you're doing it to be funny then I don't particularly care when you do it." She set down her tea, playfully threatening them with the spoon, "But if you're trying to make it go somewhere then it needs to be here. Besides, I doubt any of us would feel much if we were out in public anyway; I've got three layers between my boobs and your hands whenever I'm leaving the house, and I assure you this vest makes it hard to feel much."

"Fair enough." Tenten nodded, adding shortly after, "But we're not at second base yet, so none of that yet. On to third?"

"If you would be so kind."

"It's… anything below the belt. Now that I think about it though, isn't that technically sex for us?" Tenten asked, turning a bit redder alongside Lysylta and Hinata. "I mean… normally after third it's supposed to be sex, but things…err, below the belt pretty much sums up sex between women. I mean… shit, I am not explaining this well."

"Let's define third as retaining clothes." Lysylta offered, trying to stop her imagination from running too wild. "And no oral; just hands. Once the clothes come off and we're going down on one another, _that _will be sex. Not really the best explaination either but does it sound agreeable to you two?"

"Y-yeah." Hinata agreed, a silent nod coming from Tenten a second later. "S-so now what?"

"Sex is going to be a little distant for me, I won't lie. By the end of a month or so I'd be open to first and second, but third and beyond are going to take a little time. Maybe not as much as I'm estimating, but some." Lysylta remarked, trying to start the next part of the conversation before they succumbed to the awkward silence.

"I'm… same. Longer on second though." Hinata pipped in, trying not to let her mind run rampant with thoughts of what it would be like to have Lysylta and Tenten-

"I think I'd be open to making out whenever you two are ready; past that I'm not going to predict anything." Tenten cut off Hinata's thought before it could evolve into something truly distracting, ending her sentence with a shrug, "So when's the first date?"

"Funny you should ask that…" Lysylta smirked at the convenience of the situation; she had been meaning to tell them about her mission, "They finally got around to giving me a rank, and Tsunade was kind enough to offer me a mission; it's not for a week since she wanted a bit more recon done, so if you two would like to do something between now and then that would be fine."

"Congratulations!" Hinata smiled wide, "What rank did you get?"

"And what kind of mission?" Tenten added, smiling as well; this was definitely a topic she was more comfortable with.

"Chuunin, though I believe it would have been higher if it weren't for the fact I'm a scythe-wielding werefox from another dimension whose loyalties aren't as clear as the council would like." Lysylta deadpanned, leaving her girlfriends to ponder whether or not it was meant as a joke. "I'm expected to go deal with a few bandits and be back in time for dinner."

The mood dipped a bit at that point, with either the premise of people dying or Lysylta being in harm's way dampening spirits.

"How many bandits?" Tenten asked, breaking the silence before it got overwhelming.

"I believe that's why they're doing recon still; I'm only required to take out the leaders, but I may well decide to just blow up the whole camp." Lysylta sighed, realizing how it must have sounded, "The latter keeps me a lot farther out of reach, so there's that benefit."

"Yeah. So… dates?" Hinata asked, wanting to change the topic. There were people in the world that didn't exactly deserve to live, but Hinata had never been particularly enamored by the thought of another human being dying.

"You two have to decide!" Lysylta quickly stammered out, blushing when they both looked at her, "I mean, we've been over the whole culture gap thing, so I want you two to pick what kind of date you'd like; I'll pay if there's a monetary cost for anything."

"Can we do one-on-one dates before we do anything as a trio? I'm not trying to sound negative, but getting to know one person intimately is hard enough." Tenten asked, biting her cheek.

"I'm alright with that." Hinata nodded alongside Lysylta. "How about you and I have our date after Lysylta leaves for her mission? That way we only have to squeeze two dates around our schedules this week."

Tenten smiled and nodded, her heart jumping a bit at the thought of actually going on a date again; She had only really been on one before and it hadn't exactly been a very pleasant experience since her ex had been hellbent on pretending to be just friends.

As Lysylta made a rather crass joke regarding her breasts and Hinata's Byakugan, Tenten couldn't help but smile. With these two at least she wouldn't have to hide.

* * *

This sat on my computer way too long.  
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Minecraft, College, and making sure I have housing for next semester sure do take up a lot of time though… I feel like I listed those in the wrong order.

Ja Ne, my freaky darlings!


End file.
